The Mayfields: Looking back, catching up at LMS

This week the Mayfields are faced with the somewhat odd association of having the entire NASCAR circus "in the neighborhood," at their hometown Lowe's Motor Speedway for Saturday night's Bank of America 500, but they've got no work to do.

But luckily they do have tickets, so Jeremy plans to take advantage of some time off from the seat to talk to his buddies about the dramatic finishes at Talladega while trying to learn something from on high; while Shana will catch up with all her old friends.

This week: Bring it on home

	Jeremy and Shana Mayfield Credit: Autostock
	JEREMY MAYFIELD •   Driver Page •   2006 Stats •   Superstore: Mayfield gear •   Jeremy's official Web site

Q: A lot of competitors don't like Talladega -- but the race fans love it, so after two races last weekend that each had a bump from behind on the last lap, how did you guys see 'em?

Jeremy Mayfield: I hate it for the 15 truck (Mike Wallace's Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevrolet) because those guys have a great team and they were heading for a great finish -- so I hate it for them.

And I hate it for Mike Skinner, because first of all, I don't think anyone is going to wreck anybody else for the hell of it. So between what happened in the truck race and the Cup race, it had to be just racing.

Anybody who was watching it who knows anything about racing, knows that's what it was. Nobody is just going to spin somebody, even though that might be what it looks like.

I really don't think anybody did anything on purpose, especially at a racetrack like that.

And I'll tell you something, when you're in the middle of something like that, you feel really badly about it. Even though Brian Vickers won the race -- and Skinner ended up second the other night (in the truck race) when Mike Wallace wrecked -- you still feel bad about it.

And it all comes back around. It's the same thing with Jimmie Johnson and Junior and those other guys. Jimmie Johnson has done stuff that's created a big uproar, and made somebody mad about it -- if not making everybody mad about it.

So Sunday proves it just comes back around. No big deal. The same thing's going to happen to Brian Vickers -- one day it will come back around to him. Somebody will wreck him and he'll be all mad about it and saying (whomever wrecked him) is not a talented driver and this, that and the other -- but it all comes back around.

Shana Mayfield: On Sunday, all I know is that the fans love Talladega, but the fans weren't too happy with the outcome of that one -- you could hear that through the TV, with all the boos and everything else.

I don't know, but I just think it was obvious, with everything the media's been reporting, that there's not a great relationship right now between Vickers and Hendrick Motorsports -- like with (Jeff) Gordon and him and now, Johnson and him -- even if he and his team are fine and putting out pretty good cars.

So yeah, maybe he didn't mean to do it -- but I don't think he cut (Johnson) a lot of slack, either. I think you can see it both ways. Yeah, they were racing hard, but when it's your teammate I think there's a little respect factor there, that you don't race your teammate as hard as you would someone else -- especially when you've got two guys in front of you that are running for a championship, like Dale Jr. and Jimmie are.

It was a bad points day for some guys that could have had a really good points day, and now it's bunched the Chase back up again to where pretty much anybody has a shot at it.

Final lapsBrian Vickers rolls to the checkers after some controversy Final lapsMark Martin gets to the checkered flag under caution Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

It's just been a weird couple weeks with racing and the Chase, so I don't know. I guess he could have raced him a little cleaner, but then again, he was racing for his first win. I just think he was a little aggressive and a little anxious there.

Jeremy: Yeah, but I can pretty much sit here and say they've pretty much alienated him on everything that's going on over there [at Hendrick Motorsports].

Shana: Oh yeah, you know they have.

Jeremy: And I pretty much know how that feels, when you're on your way out and you don't give a rat's butt about what your teammates think. So I'm sure he had a little bit of that feeling, inside.

I'm sure if he'd been treated as a teammate for the rest of the year (that might not have happened). But maybe he has been -- I don't know. So all I'm saying is, he might be at the point where he's saying, "All right, every man for himself."

Shana: I agree with that, but I don't know -- there's just that respect factor that you have to have for another driver, and a teammate, no less.

Jeremy: It's a hard call, but I'm sure they'll work it all out.

Shana: It is a hard call, because like Jeremy said, you don't know how he's been treated, but you read that he's not allowed in meetings, so he probably felt like so what -- and he wanted to win in that 25 car before he left, so he's gonna go for it either way.

But then again, you've got to look at the championship thing and having respect for the guys going for it, because that's a real important thing going on right now. So I don't think the fans were real happy about it.

Jeremy: Yeah, but you can't let the championship part of it overrule everything, otherwise you might as well just let those 10 cars (in the Chase for the Nextel Cup) race for it every week and forget about everybody else.

Shana: No, I know that, but you know what I'm saying.

Jeremy: I know, but that's what NASCAR has got to work out, how everyone can race together -- and they realize that. They've got 10 guys running for a championship, but you've got 33 that are not -- and they've got a right to race.

Shana: But that just comes back to the respect factor and them being teammates -- even if they are on the way out.

Jeremy: Right -- that's probably all it is. And I'm sure that it was totally an accident, I promise you.

Q: From a driver's standpoint, the outpouring of emotion from the fans was, shall we say, vociferous -- but Jeremy, it seems to me you experienced that a few years ago in Pocono -- and as Big E himself said, if you're in Victory Lane with the trophy, does that ease the pain of the boos a little?

Pocono 500 June 19, 2000 Pos. Driver No./Make St. 1. J. Mayfield 12/Ford 22 2. D. Jarrett 88/Ford 4 3. R. Rudd 28/Ford 3 4. D. Earnhardt 3/Chevy 16 5. M. Martin 6/Ford 6 6. T. Stewart 20/Pontiac 9 7. J. Burton 99/Ford 8 8. J. Gordon 24/Chevy 5 9. M. Skinner 31/Chevy 7 10. R. Wallace 2/Ford 1 • Complete results, click here

Jeremy: See -- that's the difference -- and Big E always did, and Little E did a great job the other day of being professional about it, after the fact.

He's not like all those race fans that were booing the other guy (Vickers). He was totally professional about it and said, "Look, I'm not sure what happened" -- the same way Earnhardt did with me (in June 2000 at Pocono).

He was a true professional. It's racing, man -- and that's (wrecking) part of it. And just because somebody didn't let your favorite driver win, so what? You know, you got used to it.

And also, as Big E used to say, if they're not booing for you, or clapping for you -- then you've done something wrong. If you're not getting high fives and "hey there's," the next best thing to it is a boo -- to have everybody booing you (because) that means you've done something.

Shana: You see, we're still talking about it this week, so obviously Vickers has done something and it's getting him attention and any kind of attention is good attention in this sport, it seems to be.

As long as your name's out there -- and he got his win, and that's what he wanted. Just because 100,000 people at Talladega didn't like it, oh well. He's got the trophy and he's got that win notched under his belt in the 25 car, which is something that he'd always wanted.

Q: Was Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus' reaction a classic -- in which the guys in the garage are going to have one opinion and the guys either still on the racetrack or in Victory Lane are going to have one that is distinctly different?

Jeremy: You always have to discredit the guy who won, when he does that. And fortunately, Dale Earnhardt did a great job -- because he was the one who lost all of it.

Jimmie wasn't leading, he was running second, you know what I mean? So the leader got taken out and he handled it very well, so I feel like Jimmie should have handled it just as well.

Q: But was it unfortunate that in typical racer fashion, they have short memories and they forgot that not too many races ago at Talladega, Jimmie made a mistake and caused a huge accident?

Shana: Of course.

Jeremy: That's the problem, everybody forgets, you know?

Shana: Everybody makes mistakes, but I guess the way Johnson saw it, was that running three in a straight line, there aren't many mistakes you can make. You're not four- or five-wide, so he's probably thinking he had to have turned me on purpose.

Jeremy: He didn't do it on purpose.

Shana: He probably didn't. If you go back and look at it, he was just driving hard and he wanted to win.

Jeremy: You've got to be careful if you say "aw, he's got no talent." He won the race, so I'd be damned if I'd say he was a no-talented driver. That's not true, either.

Shana: It's not. So I think it was just frustration that brought it all on -- just a frustrating last five or six races for those guys, after they've been used to winning a lot of races.

Jeremy: As cool as those guys are over there, they'll all be hanging out by the end of the week, anyway. They're all big buddies.

Shana: I don't know about that.

Q: Now here we come, back to Lowe's Motor Speedway, so tell the truth -- despite the traffic issues and the motorhome ghetto -- are you gonna miss Charlotte? And how much will you come by there this weekend?

Jeremy: I'm going to spend a lot of time out there. I'm going to spend quite a bit of time hanging out with the 22 (Dave Blaney) and the 55 guys (Michael Waltrip, two cars fielded by Bill Davis Racing, who will field Mayfield's cars in 2007).

I just want to be there, and I can't wait to see a lot of my old friends around there.

Shana: I've definitely been missing it, so I might want to go by and see DeLana (Harvick) and all them. My parents will be there and they've already bought their spot a month in advance, so I'll have to go by and visit them.

Just like it's been for however many races it's been that we've missed -- you miss everyone just as much -- but this weekend it'll be especially hard just for all the hoopla they have going on at Charlotte, which is always a fun place to go, and it's close to home.

But we just have to keep in the back of our mind that we have a lot of good things to look forward to, and we'll be there next year. But it's tough on me every week, and I think it's tough on Jeremy in his own way, too.

But he'll be excited to just be in the garage area and to get a chance to see all those guys from BDR, who he's testing with Monday and Tuesday, down at Homestead.

So he's got a lot to look forward to this weekend and he'll be in a racecar the beginning of next week, so that will give him his fix.

Jeremy: I haven't figured out where I'm gonna watch the race from -- maybe from the infield. I'm going to spend a lot of time watching the other cars, in the corners and stuff like that -- taking notes and trying to learn a lot of stuff throughout the race.

That's something I never get a chance to do and I feel like it'll help me if I can scan everybody and listen to what everybody's doing during practice, and then stand down in the corners and watch what each car's attitude is doing.

You can pretty much tell if they're coil-binding or not, by doing that and I also want to look at a lot of different lines and see the way people are driving. But the main thing is the attitude of the bodies and all that stuff.

I'd like to get up on the spotters' stand, too -- maybe during practice.

Shana: Maybe you can spot for Blaney.

Jeremy: Uh, I don't think he'd want me doing that.

Shana: I don't think I'd want you doing that, either. And I don't think Bill would want you doing that, either.

Jeremy: And I'm sure going to hang out with my guys from the 9.

Word Association: The Lowe's down

Fall Homecoming
Shana: Queen. You're talking to her.
Jeremy: Miss Asphalt.

Dirt Track
Shana: In our backyard.
Jeremy: Winged Outlaws.

Teammates
Shana: Got a good one.
Jeremy: Gotta have respect.