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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 14: Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the #41 Allsport Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2009 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Jeremy Mayfield is speaking again after sixteen years away from the NASCAR spotlight. The former Cup Series<\/a> driver says the newly leaked text messages from top NASCAR executives support everything he has said since his 2009 suspension.<\/p>\n The texts came out through filings in the 23XI Racing<\/a> and Front Row Motorsports<\/a> antitrust case. They showed private conversations that included insults toward Richard Childress and negative comments about long-time fans.<\/p>\n Mayfield\u00a0said the tone in the messages matched what he faced during his final years in the sport. For him, the leaks reopened a story he has never stopped fighting, and he said they explain why his career ended the way it did.<\/p>\n Mayfield reacts to leaked NASCAR executive messages<\/p>\n On X, Mayfield wrote<\/a>, \u201cYeah, I feel vindicated. This proves what I\u2019ve said 4 years, they don\u2019t need a reason. Not fitting their mold is enough. I wasn\u2019t their vanilla driver. I came n rough, hard-nosed, made mistakes, & spoke my mind. Racing was my whole life. Now you\u2019re seeing why they did what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n The leaked texts showed top executives mocking Richard Childress and using words like clown and hillbilly. Other messages dismissed traditional fans and suggested certain old-school figures needed to be kept in place. Mayfield said the attitude matched how he was treated during his suspension.<\/p>\n His 2009 drug test case came after two tests NASCAR listed as positive. Mayfield always said the results<\/a> came from his prescribed Adderall and the over-the-counter medicine Claritin-D. He first won a temporary federal injunction but later lost on appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cI take responsibility for my mistakes and what I\u2019ve done wrong. he said<\/a>. But I\u2019ll never take responsibility for what I didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy Mayfield sees his own fight in today\u2019s legal battle<\/p>\n In an interview with Garage Guy Chase<\/a>, Mayfield said the current charter and antitrust fight looks the same as what he faced in 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat 23XI and Front Row are going through right now is exactly what I went through. Same lawyers, same bullshit, same threats. I sued them in 2009, and they buried me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mayfield also said many current team owners and drivers stay quiet because they fear losing their place in the sport. He said the leaked messages show how a power imbalance can shape decisions inside the garage.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re scared to death. If they say anything, NASCAR will park \u2018em, fine \u2018em, or take their charter. That\u2019s how they keep control.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Childress, who was targeted in the leaked texts, released a short statement saying the truth always comes out. NASCAR has not commented on the messages or on Mayfield\u2019s new comments.<\/p>\n Mayfield comments on NASCAR\u2019s format and his past choices<\/p>\n Mayfield also spoke about how today\u2019s racing format compares to the years when he competed. He raced during the full-season championship era, where every race mattered across all 36 events. He said the current system feels too dependent on one final race.<\/p>\n \u201cThis playoff shit has ruined the sport. We raced 36 damn races for a championship, now it\u2019s one race and a video game. Fans hate it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Even after the loss of sponsors, the end of his team, and sixteen years away from the garage, Mayfield stands by the decisions he made.<\/p>\n \u201cZero regrets. I\u2019d do it exactly the same. Somebody had to stand up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Mayfield, the leaked messages are the closest thing to a public correction of the story that followed him for more than a decade.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Image DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 14: Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the #41 Allsport Toyota, stands in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-308770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}