Jeremy Mayfield, the best driver with the most solid credentials that's currently unemployed in NASCAR, says he'll take a 2009 driving gig for a percentage of the purse.

In fact, he's held to that contention since mid-summer, preferring to let his experience, which includes five career Cup victories and berths in the first two Chases, speak for itself.

But he still sits unemployed today and that, my friends, is a pretty stark statement on the abysmal nature of the NASCAR landscape, whether it's for this year's Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series.

Mayfield's in good company -- though no one in the group wants inclusion.

Since 2008 Mayfield's been joined by (in alphabetical order): Dave Blaney, Patrick Carpentier, Jeff Green, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Petty, Tony Raines, Ken Schrader, J.J. Yeley and now, apparently, even David Gilliland, unless Yates Racing is keeping him on retainer in case they get sponsorship for their hoped-for fourth car.

You could hold an M-80 in one hand, light it, say a prayer and then count the good rides that are still available on whatever you had left after the bang.

So these days, drivers have to be looking around, jumpy as hell and just wondering when the phone's gonna ring. If green flags drop at Daytona and they're still sitting at home, it'll be worse for them than holding a stick of dynamite at ignition.

But will it? Hell yeah.

One of the athletes who visited Daytona International Speedway last weekend did point out that stock car racing, after all, was just a game. That's true, but it's an income and it pays bills -- and that's what everyone faces, whether you're punching a clock at the mill or entertaining thousands at a motor race.

But that guy was employed, after all. (Continued)