rpm.espn.com: Jeremy Mayfield

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Wednesday, January 16

Jeremy Mayfield
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

Team: Jeremy Mayfield
Car/sponsor/make: No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge

Jeremy Mayfield
Mayfield

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Top 5
Poles
Best finish

2001 35 0 5 0 3rd, Three times

Career 3 33 6 1st, Three times

2001 recap
The good: It's kind of hard to find much good in a season where you're fired after 28 races, never higher than 20th in the points and ultimately finished 35th in the standings (a career-worst as a full-time driver). But Mayfield did have a few bright spots, including a trio of third-place finishes (including back-to-back spring outings at Darlington, S.C., and Bristol, Tenn.), all of which came after he started each race 30th or worse.

Season highlight: Mayfield surprised a lot of people when he started 39th (his fourth-worse start of the season) at Watkins Glen, N.Y., only to put on a tremendous show, coming from back in the pack to finish third.

The bad: Being fired after nearly five years with Roger Penske's team was embarrassing for Mayfield. Shortly after his release, he feared he might not catch on with another team in 2002. However, Ray Evernham came riding to Mayfield's rescue, hiring him to replace Casey Atwood in the No. 19 Dodge. Atwood, meanwhile, shifts to the No. 7 team in a unique partnership between Evernham and fellow team owner Jim Smith.

Season lowlight: Mayfield was knocked out of two races in 2001 by accidents, both coming relatively early in the event. In the fourth race of the season, at Atlanta, Mayfield started 14th, but was sent home after 53 laps of the 267-lap event due to a crash, finishing 42nd. It was the same scenario in late September when he started seventh at Dover, Del., only to knocked out by another crash just 54 laps into the 400-lap event, again finishing a disappointing 42nd. It was that finish, followed by his 36th-place showing the following week at Kansas that sealed Mayfield's fate, as he was fired the day after the Kansas race.

Casey Atwood
Mayfield takes over the No. 19 Dodge, driven by Casey Atwood in 2000.

Key stat: Penske does not like losing. But if his drivers are going to lose, they should at least have a respectable finish. Such wasn't always the case with Mayfield in his shortened 2001 campaign. Of his 28 starts, he finished 30th or worse in nearly half of the events (13). What's more, his qualifying efforts were all over the board all season, including starting 30th or worse, also in 13 races.

2002 outlook
What needs to be done: A fresh start with a new team may bring Mayfield back to the level of success he enjoyed in 1998 (finished seventh in the standings) and 1999 (11th), rather than the disappointing showings he's had the last two seasons (24th in 2000 and 35th last season). Driving for Evernham and being teamed with Bill Elliott and Atwood should give Mayfield a much-needed shot of confidence. He should be able to learn a few tricks of the trade from the wily veteran Elliott, while joining Elliott to mentor the promising Atwood.

Prediction: Unless he totally drops the second chance that's been handed to him, Mayfield should be able to rebound and enjoy a much improved season in 2002. He's definitely a top-20 candidate, if not possibly within the top-15. But if he fails as he did in 2001, he not only may receive a pink slip, he may have a hard time getting an ARCA ride, let alone a Busch or Winston Cup job, in 2003.

Your take
Will Mayfield rebound with Evernham? Or was he a flash in the pan with Penske? Here are your thoughts.

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