| | When it comes to NASCAR, the "CARs" are the game.
Plain and simple, Jeremy Mayfield's car was on steroids when it crossed
the finish line at Talladega Superspeedway.
|  | | Jeremy Mayfield was all smiles after winning in California. |
They weren't anabolic or alcoholic steroids. They weren't injected into
the blood stream of the driver or anyone on the team. Shoot, these particular foreign
substances aren't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
No, Mayfield's Ford was given the performance enhancing product through
the gas tank in the form of a fuel additive that helped to oxygenate the gasoline
in the car. In a carburetor -- especially a restricted one like is ran at
Talladega -- extra oxygen is a bonus, a bonus that placed him at an unfair
advantage over his competitors.
The resulting fusion between Mayfield's No. 12 Ford and a can of fuel
additive forced NASCAR to come down hard on his team and take another step towards
joining mainstream American sports. On the Alabama asphalt, urine samples and
fuel samples became as one.
Mayfield lost 151 points -- 126 for finishing 14th at Talladega and
another 25 for good measure. The car's owner, Michael Kranefuss, lost $50,000 and the same
151 points off the car owner's total.
The car's crew chief, Peter Sospenzo, was suspended from NASCAR
competition until June 6. Sospenzo can't take a competitive role at Richmond,
Charlotte or Dover.
Unlike an athlete being reprimanded, Mayfield himself had little or
nothing do with the infraction. According to NASCAR officials, a single
unnamed team member may have added the oxygenate to the fuel tank without
anyone else knowing. But, the illegalities discovered in his car's fuel cell
posed the same performance-enhancing consequences of any foreign substance in
the bloodstream.
So, in a move of respectability and accountability, NASCAR reacted. With
its southern roots expanded and a national audience now peering in on the
sanctioning body, the organization sent a message to its fans and its players
that infractions will not be tolerated.
"I don't know how to get across to the media and everyone involved with
NASCAR that this is a changing environment," said Mike Helton, the
sanctioning bodies Chief Operating Officer. "The Winston Cup Series is not
the same as it was 10 years ago.
"The magnatude and the status of Winston Cup racing has grown and along
with that comes a new responsibility. It's not business as usual in the NASCAR
garage anymore."
NASCAR heads to each Winston Cup event loaded with 30 templates, 60 or so
inspectors and a 120 step process to determine whether or not a car complies
with rules set forth in their rule book. One of those rules, in Section 8-8
speaks directly towards fuel. The fuel sample taken from the No. 12 Ford at
Talladega didn't meet NASCAR's specifications.
"There isn't a whole lot you can say under the circumstances," said team
owner Kranefuss. "Mistakes were made and there were certainly some grave errors in
judgment. We won the pole at Talladega by following the rules, which NASCAR
has confirmed.
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There were some things done that were wrong. But we're going to work
together as a team to get back to where we were before. We are a good race team.
Everyone has been supportive of each other. From our owners to our sponsors
to the guys in the shop, we're a family here.
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—
Jeremy Mayfield
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"Needless to say, we accept the penalty, we have taken disciplinary
action within our team, and we apologize to our fans, our sponsors, NASCAR and the other
teams. We will make sure nothing like this will ever happen again. We will
continue to work to put the best possible race car on the track each week
within the rules."
Mayfield, fresh off his second career win last weekend at California
Speedway, was also apologetic. "We're all embarrassed and we're all going to make sure
nothing like this happens again," he said. "Everything we've accomplished so
far we've accomplished within the rules.
"I feel really bad for our fans and our sponsors. We hate what happened,
but we have to keep going forward.
"There were some things done that were wrong. But we're going to work
together as a team to get back to where we were before. We are a good race team.
Everyone has been supportive of each other. From our owners to our sponsors
to the guys in the shop, we're a family here. We've done a lot of good things
together and we'll continue to be a family."
NASCAR as a whole not only wanted to send a message to the teams and
players, but also to manufacturers of these performance enhancing products --
most of whom claim they have found a way to skate around NASCAR's rule book.
"It seems there a growing number of stories about outside people coming
in with things designed to get around NASCAR's rules," said Helton. "Whenever
someone from the outside tells out competitors that they can circumvent the
rules, it's our job to look into it."
At nearly 200 miles per hour on the Alabama asphalt, stock cars met pine
tar, and NASCAR met a new era of punishing hard and fast for
performance-enhancing substances.
Phil Furr, a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C., writes a weekly auto-racing column for ESPN.com.
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Wallace crew chief Robin Pemberton has mixed feelings about the penalty.
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Ray Evernham sympathizes with Jeremy Mayfield and his crew.
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Kyle Petty discusses NASCAR's decision to penalize Mayfield.
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NASCAR V.P. Mike Helton describes the events leading to Mayfield's penalty.
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NASCAR official Gary Nelson considers the infraction a very serious penalty.
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