His race team has been sold. His stepmother is suing him for slander. His temporary injunction has been overturned. His lawsuit against NASCAR has finally been scheduled for trial -- but not until September of next year.

How much longer can Jeremy Mayfield hold on?

Own worst eneny

David Caraviello says Jeremy Mayfield taking on NASCAR in the media is a mistake and he would better his chances by disappearing for a while.

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• Testing supported by drivers
• Wouldn't pass elsewhere
• Caraviello: No winners
• Caraviello: Battling history

It's a fair question, given the events of the last few weeks. Mayfield, who is suing NASCAR over random drug test results that allegedly came back positive for methamphetamine, seemed to have a fighting chance a little more than a month ago when a U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary injunction lifting the driver's indefinite suspension. It wasn't a verdict, but up against a sanctioning body that rarely loses in court, it was celebrated as a kind of victory. Suddenly, NASCAR's drug testing policy seemed suspect. Mayfield talked like he was ready to get back on the race track.

Today, the idea of Mayfield ever again driving in a NASCAR-sanctioned series seems about as far-fetched as the Cup Series heading back to North Wilkesboro. Since his small victory on July 1, it's been one setback after another -- NASCAR saying that Mayfield had again tested positive for meth; a sworn affidavit from the driver's stepmother alleging that she had seen him use the drugs; media tirades against his stepmother that resulted in the slander suit; revelations that Mayfield's independent tests were not randomized and not observed; the overturning of his temporary injunction by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals; and finally, the sale of his race team to car owner John Carter, which we can only assume Mayfield did to raise money to fund his legal fight.

That is a landslide of bad news. And now, the mechanics of a trial loom -- discovery to be completed by April 7 of next year, all motions filed by May 7, trial scheduled to begin Sept. 13, 2010. You have to wonder if Mayfield can make it that far, given that he's already had to borrow money from family members and sell personal assets to make ends meet, and that his attorney, the long-haired, bare-knuckled legal brawler Bill Diehl, doesn't come cheap.

Even though the weight of evidence has clearly tilted in NASCAR's favor to this point, there are a lot of people out there who think Mayfield is innocent, who want to see him take the sanctioning body to trial and win. That's all well and good, but those people aren't paying an attorney $500 an hour to prepare for a trial that's still 13 months away. Jeremy Mayfield is. From the standpoint of sheer practicality, this case may be nearing its tipping point.

A little more than a month ago, when Mayfield appeared to have NASCAR backed into a corner, the idea of a settlement in this case seemed ridiculous. Not anymore. Yes, Mayfield wants to get back on the race track. But the prospect of that happening, even if NASCAR lifted his indefinite suspension to tomorrow, is remote. Mayfield doesn't have his own race car, no other team will hire him, and although some drivers have voiced concerns about elements of the sport's random drug policy, the garage is overwhelmingly in support of NASCAR on this issue.

Even before this entire saga exploded, Mayfield was essentially a driver on the outside, using his own shoestring operation as a desperate attempt to get back in. In that respect, little has changed. It's not like the No. 48 car is warmed up and waiting for him.

At some point, Mayfield needs to look at himself in the mirror and realize he's fighting a lost cause, because he's almost certainly never going to drive on NASCAR's premier series again. And then he and Diehl need to go to NASCAR, and ask a question -- how much is it worth to you to make all of this go away?

To this point, we've received no indications as to whether NASCAR would be willing to settle this suit, given how acrimonious relations between the two parties have become. But given the sport's track record (it did, after all, settle the sexual and racial discrimination suit brought by former Nationwide Series official Mauricia Grant), you'd have to think that if NASCAR could write a check and wash its hand of this issue, it would take it.

Does the sanctioning body really want Mayfield, who in the past month has been voicing conspiracy theories ranging from his stepmom murdering his father to NASCAR intentionally spiking his urine, sounding off for 13 more months? If Mayfield wants to be left with more than two nickels to rub together, and NASCAR wants to rid itself of a legal nuisance, then the kind of sealed, no-fault settlement utilized in the Grant case -- with the stipulation, of course, that Mayfield no longer drives in NASCAR -- may be the most efficient way to end all of this.

And there's no question that all of this needs to end. The three months that have passed since Mayfield's first alleged positive test have felt like an eternity -- an ugly, expensive, recrimination-filled eternity. Does anyone, Mayfield and NASCAR included, really want this to drag on for another year?

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.