Elliott to replace Mayfield in No. 19 at The Glen

[smyler]

Read: http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/08/08/jmayfield_belliott/index.html

Wow.   I guess it is no big surprise but Evernham seems to place a low priority on loyalty.  How can you dismantle a team and leave just the driver and then blame the driver for all the problems that follow?  Jeremy will land on his feet, but it makes me sick to see how slimey big Ray is acting.  I'll say more after I see a couple of your views.

[WV-Kahne Fan]

Read: http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/08/08/jmayfield_belliott/index.html

Wow.   I guess it is no big surprise but Evernham seems to place a low priority on loyalty.  How can you dismantle a team and leave just the driver and then blame the driver for all the problems that follow?  Jeremy will land on his feet, but it makes me sick to see how slimey big Ray is acting.  I'll say more after I see a couple of your views.

To be honest with you I'm only half reading the article, Evernham has got me so upset with his shenanigans this year, I'm sick.  His priorities the way I see it are not where they belong. I wish Jeremy well, he's a decent driver, maybe he will do better elsewhere.  He has showen some interest in indy cars.  And why is Kasey, after juch a strong start, now struggling.  I'm not afraid to say it.  Its time he quit messing around with Erin and get back to the business of running his race team.

[SMOKEN14]

IS it just me or is Ray spending a lot of time with his head up Erin Crockers behind lately?

[smyler]

I remember when Jeremy was driving for Penske and he won the race in California.  I was sitting in a bar about 50 years away from JM's condo in Cornelius, NC.  I went there to watch the race with other fans instead of staying home to watch it on my own couch. 

I remember that Jeremy was a middle of the road driver in the 12 car.  Rusty was definitely the man at Penske.  He didn't really fit in there.  I really thought Ray had made a smart decision by signing him.  The combination of Jeremy and Bill was a good one to start a team with.  It is sad that of all people to replace him, if only for a race, it is Bill Elliott.  Bill has always been a class act.  Fifteen years ago, if you weren't a Earnhardt fan you were probably either a fan of Bill, DW or Rusty.

Signing on with Evernham was a renewal for Jeremy.  He did pretty well.  I've never heard of Jeremy being anything but an asset in the 19.  I think this is going to be an embarrassment for Ray for many years to come.  All I can say is that Ray has been a respected guy... till now.  Jeremy will continue to be respected.  I just wish he wasn't going to end up driving a Toyota.

[Chris]

BOY,... WHAT Mayfield have YOU guys been watching...?
I've NEVER been impressed with ANY thing Mayfield did in ANY car for ANY team...

This is THIRTEEN Years he has been in the CUP series, and has driven for some GOOD teams,... whats he have to show for it,.. a whopping total of FIVE wins.  Thats pretty pathetic, especially for someone you all are talking about like he is some kinda 'superstar'
OH PLEASE....

And his BEST finish THIS season has been 13th... and only THREE in the top TWENTY
PITIFUL

Mayfield won driving for Kranefuss / Penske back in 1998.... and won twice in 2000
He drove for Ray and won at Richmond to make the Chase in 2004,.. and then at Michigan in 2005.
SO since 1998 he has NEVER drove for a BAD team (in fact they have been some of the best in the business).... but he can't post but 5 wins in 13 years.
Heck Kasey Kahne came along, and posted 5 wins last year, and what part of this year we have run...  BOTH ran with Bill Elliott, and had the advantage of his tutalage. (sp)
Ever stop to think maybe THATS as good as Mayfield GETS..??

I think everyone should stop bashing Ray,.. and START thinking about Mayfield and how HE caused this for HIMSELF>  SOunds to me like he WANTED to leave.  He was the one that started shooting his mouth off about Ray a couple weeks ago,.. and anyone that didn't see this coming way back then is living with blinders on.

IN FACT,.. Just early this morning I myself predicted that ELLIOTT would be in this car SOME before the year was over (over on another thread here at FS)
http://www.frontstretch.com/board/index.php?topic=291.0
TITLE: Interesting - Could a reunion be coming

SO wake up and smell the coffee,... Mayfield got EXACTLY what he had coming.
As far as this:

It's not professional, that's for sure,'' said Mayfield

BOY if thats not the pot calling the kettle black,... Jeremys SURE got a short memory,.. Don't he remember HE's The one that started shooting off his mouth just a few weeks ago about Ray...

[WV-Kahne Fan]

Mostly trying to be nice about Mayfield, but I have no intentions of being nice about Evernham not tending to bussiness.  Success come's with involvement.  And I don't mean under the covers. 

[Chris]

Well  I'd say there's a LOT more going on behind the scenes that we know about...
Lets put 2 and 2 together...

First Mayfield spouts off a couple weeks ago and says He don't feel like Ray is around enough,.. all the while Kahne is winning poles, and running up front (even run up front this week until a late race crash kept him from a top 10 finish)
Gee,.. if Kahne can run up front,... WHY can't a "Seasoned" veteran...
They both have the VERY same equipment,.. run out of the SAME shop,.. have and share the same tech info... MAYBE Mayfield was getting tired of a NEAR Rookie making him look so bad (and he knows he has NO EXCUSE for it)

Then he spouts of AGAIN this week and says "He don't think he'll be back with Evernham motorsports in 2007"... After Ray has ALREADY said he was trying to make the best of this season, and no plans had been made to release Mayfield.

SO with Mayfield saying OVER and OVER,... I won't be back,... that is PRETTY MUCH sending a message to Ray "I DON'T WANT to be back"... thats pretty plain and simple for all to see.

You know when you say it OFTEN enough,.. it becomes a "self-fulfilling prophecy"...
So Mayfield got what he wanted...

My guess is Mayfield is MIFFED a Ray,..Mayfield KNOWS (or wanted) to go somewhere else,.. and WANTED to get the #19 car OUT of the top 35 in points. 

Rays no dummy.  He SAW what Mayfield was up to,.. and if he is SMART he will boot Mayfield for the REST of the season.  It's called Damage control.
If a driver is going to sabatage your team and COST you getting a secure spot in the top 35 for 2007,.. you have NO CHOICE but to get rid of him NOW>

Ray is to be commended for protecting his team...
Mayfield did this to himself,... he has no one to blame but himself.

[Chris]

Well you know the "Ray Haters" will make up ANY kinda goofy stuff... silly as it may be.
Ray's almost 50,.. and she's 25....

But hey... if he is,.. and they both all good with it,.. good for them BOTH.
It's a free country.

Seems to me he's not doing anything different a team owner does with any other new young rookie when they are coming up.  Any good team owner USUALLY trys to spend some extra time with a new young gun to try and speed up process so they can move along faster to the next level.
This happens with about All the owners and about all the new rookies.  I see nothing different here... Nothing except shes a girl driver, and people trying to make something out of nothing.
ONly thing "MAYBE" different is Ray is supporting the "driver diversity" program,.. and she is one of the leading canidates in that... so maybe since she is female,.. and also in the driver diversity program he wants to make sure she succeeds.
Maybe thats why she is getting some extra mentoring...

Last I checked Evernham had Team managers, crew chiefs, etc... If Kahne can get the job done,.. NO REASON why Mayfield can't.  Simple as that.

[smyler]

Chris, with all due respect, I am far from a Ray hater.  Look at my avitar.  I've met Ray on two occasions and he was very friendly.  I've NEVER thought that Jeremy was a superstar.  That isn't why I'm upset. 

Put it this way, how would you like it if you had an office job and were expected to get a certain amount of work done every day?  Let's say you have up to date computers and seasoned helpers, but one day they come in and bring you slower computers and fresh from high school assistants instead.  You like your boss so you wonder why he did this.  You put up with it for awhile, but when your coworkers start making fun of your production... are you going to say you wouldn't be more than a bit irritated?

That is basically what happened to Jeremy.  There is no way you can say he has the same equipment as the 9 does... oh wait, the 9 has the same equipment that Jeremy has had for the past year because they gave the 19 team to the 9 during the off season.  Jeremy has not even one person on his team from a year ago.  This is why Kasey has kicked it up a couple notches this year and why Jeremy fell away.  Jeremy was stuck with a stop gap crew chief and crew.  You can't compare this team with ANY Gibbs, Hendricks or Rousch team.

It's obviously too late for this to be fixed.  Feelings on both sides are too hurt.  I hope both go on to great success, but everyone will remember that Jeremy was a decent guy who got a raw deal.

[WV-Kahne Fan]

"I just don't know what I'm doing anymore - I guess I'll just find something else to do one of these days," Francis said after the race at Indianapolis.     Now that's a real encouraging statement. Looks like another season down the toilet.

SCENEDAILY - 2:05PM ET TUESDAY AUGUST 8, 2006 -

Kasey Kahne and his Evernham Motorsports team will have to regroup after falling out of the top 10 in NASCAR Nextel Cup points thanks to a last-lap crash in the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Kahne sits 37 points behind 10th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. with five races remaining before the Chase For The Nextel Cup begins.
The driver of Evernham's No. 9 Dodge has four wins this year but has finishes of 23rd or worse in the last six races. While good in practice, the team has struggled with race execution lately.
That has left team director Kenny Francis frustrated and a little flabbergasted.
"I just don't know what I'm doing anymore - I guess I'll just find something else to do one of these days," Francis said after the race at Indianapolis. "It definitely was a struggle. I don't know what to say. It doesn't seem to race real good.
"It's hard to say. We'll just keep going after it and see what we can do."
It all could come down to pit strategy. Francis thought he had made the right call for four tires late in the Allstate 400. Kahne was running 13th at the time of the pit stops, came out 18th and was ninth when he crashed.
Instead of a top-10 finish, Kahne was 36th and outside the top 10 in the championship chase with the huge hit in the points.
"You can't recover from it," Francis said. "We've had three engine problems this year. We've had a lot of issues that have cost us a lot of points. That's the bigger issue - making sure that we don't have stuff like that happen, anymore stuff that is in our control or somewhat in our control.
"You can always have problems, and you just try to do the best you can

[Chris]

well OK... lets assume I go along with some of your logic here...
First lets go along with this statement...

the 9 has the same equipment that Jeremy has had for the past year because they gave the 19 team to the 9 during the off season

OK.. Lets say that Kahne has the equipment Mayfield had LAST year...  Last year Mayfield scored ONE win,... so far this year in just past 1/2 a season kahna has FOUR wins,...
Easy to see in THAT conparison... Kahne is head and shoulders above Mayfield... Thats a no brainer.

OK,.. lets looks at the flip side,... LAST year Kahne had the crew Mayfield has THIS year....
Kahne scored one win,.. and 8 top 10's.
Mayfield has ZERO wins,.. and only 3 finishes in the top TWENTY
SO again,.. comparing apples to apples,.. Mayfield comes out WAY on the short end of the stick.

I agree it's too late for things to be fixed,... but from mayfields comments,.. he has been just about BEGGING to be let go.  If he don't drive ANY MORE for Ray this season,.. Ray is only Honoring Mayfields wishes.

Like I said previously... ever since 1997 he has drove for some if the BEST teams in racing... ONLY 5 wins, that can ONLY be the driver....  Anyone that says Penske don't field one of the best prepared and race ready teams in NASCAR ain't been following the sport closely... And Mayfield has ONLY driven for Panske and Evernham since '97

[Chris]

It all could come down to pit strategy. Francis thought he had made the right call for four tires late in the Allstate 400. Kahne was running 13th at the time of the pit stops, came out 18th and was ninth when he crashed.

I think these may have been the comments of a guy down on himself...
As far as the call... It was a tossup... ALL the cars in front of Kasey had come in,.. and to be the only (first) car to stay out with THAT many laps to go could have been bad.
If he's the ONLY car to stay out.... 20 cars could have passed him, and he could have ended up WAY further back in the field then if he HAD NOT pitted  (AT LEAST thats the way you have to think as a crew chief)

SO the decision to pit and take 4 tires was a sound one IMO...
IN fact,.. the fact he moved from 18th to 9th showed he was running fast, and coming threw traffic...
It was just bad luck he had a problem on the last corner of the last lap of the race and fell from 9th to 36th.  Could have (should have) been a good points day, and he should have still been in the top 10.

[Checkeredflag]

I think I remember the story being that Kasey got the 19's CC, crew and Cars, Riggs got the 9's CC, crew and cars, and Mayfield got the CC, crew and cars that Bill Elliot was using for the part time 91 team.  And that stuff was all R&D.  Considering the man did make the Chase for the last 2 years, it is a slap in the face, and probably a big part of the tension brewing just below the surface there all year.  I have to admit, if my employer thanked me for my services by giving all my stuff away, I wouldn't be too thrilled with him.  Maybe I'm just overly sensitive??? 

Ray inadvertently just put Bill Elliot in a horrible position, though.  By not checking if they could make a driver change, and still have the past champion's provisional at their disposal, they put this man in a car that hasn't performed, with a crew that didn't perform too well for him last year, on a road course where he hasn't started (or attempted to qualify for) a race in 3 years, and said "here ya go, put the car in the field, and by the way, you have no safety net".  I hope they at least had the brains to let him test the car at VIR or somewhere on the way up to Watkins Glen, because the way things stand now, it's really an unfair situation, and for something that should just be for fun, the pressure is going to be enormous.

[smyler]

I never have and never will say that Jeremy is a championship worthy driver.  Obviously, a lot goes on behind the scene that we never know about.  The issues I had were with Ray seeming to take little interest in the 19 and Jeremy feeling like he had to say something at Chicago in order for Ray to notice.  If Jeremy hadn't tried emailing or calling his absent boss, perhaps he should have done so before making his beef public. 

I hate that I've been sucked into caring about this soap opera on wheels. 

Ray can do any freaking thing he wants with his team, as long as he gets Dodge to go along with it.  I don't see the point in not paying attention to his team, but that is his right.  I don't think it has been fair to Jeremy is what I'm trying to say.  NASCAR decided that it wants 43 cars in every race so we need these middle of the road teams, but the point is supposed to be to field the best team you can. Do you honestly believe Ray did that? 

I don't dislike Sadler, but if he ends up in that seat I don't think you are going to see him do any better than Jeremy did.  Ray isn't going to get a superstar in that ride.  There are none that we know of currently available.

[Chris]

I hate that I've been sucked into caring about this soap opera on wheels. 

Heck what else would you be doing... LOL  Gotta do SOMETHING until NFL comes around.
Glad to have you on board here,... thats what this forum is all about.  Gives us a place to discuss things and express different points of view.  I've enjoyed reading your thoughts and ideas.  Enjoy it very much
The group that is here now seems like a nice group,.. very respectful, and can "discuss" without taking anything personal or having to resort to insults etc that just causes problems and anger among the group,

I will agree with you in a way.   (and I don't know how long you been a fan)  But racing is a LONG way from what it USED to be.  Racing used to be about RACING.  Brian has made it abour "drama"... and 'entertainment'.
IN some ways I can see it has made the racing better.  I remember going to races at Nashville, etc and there might be only one or two cars finish on the lead lap... and for many years we went and there were only 6 or 7 teams with a 'realistic' chance of winning every week.
SO now at least we have 25 teams that can win every week,.. so that is good.
But with all this 'artificial' stuff that Brian like to throw in... that part of it sucks.

As far as the thread itself... My whole point was simply this.  Jeremy has always driven quality equipment since 1997.  He only has five wins to show for it.  Something is wrong with that.  As far as owners,.. MOST owners are not there 'babysitting' each and every driver day in and day out.  I'm sure Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush don't spend the time with any one driver that it sounded like Mayfield wanted Ray to spend with "Him"
If Jeremy worked at a 9 to 5 job, he would be called 'high maintenence'... if he was an "all star" employee.  Maybe a boss might put up and coddle him and his odd traits.
Since we all know he is a "sub" performer... then it is just a nusiance.

I think whoever goes into the #19 may not be an "all star right off the bat,.. but I do think they do LOTS better than Mayfield.  I just don't think Jeremy cares any more.