That's Racing: Mayfield winning NASCAR battle

Over the past half-century, NASCAR has never lost a major challenge to its authority. But that could change after last week’s legal setback in its battle with former Nashville driver Jeremy Mayfield over alleged drug use.

A federal judge ordered NASCAR to lift its suspension of Mayfield and let him back on the track. NASCAR hasn’t given up the fight as it mulls its options, but the ruling was a significant victory for Mayfield.

Mayfield, 39, who moved from Nashville to the Charlotte area after getting his career rolling, has maintained his innocence since being suspended on May 9 for an alleged failed drug test.

NASCAR initially refused to specify what banned substance Mayfield tested positive for, but later said it was methamphetamines.

Mayfield has maintained his innocence from the outset. He said he never used any illegal drug and that the test conducted by NASCAR’s Nashville-based testing clinic was flawed.

He hired a high-powered attorney, took his case to court and last week won the opening salvo.

The repercussions could rattle NASCAR to its roots.

For starters, Mayfield is sure to sue for defamation and lost earnings — a suit that will involve millions of dollars. (The top team in NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports, is valued at $350 million with projected earnings of $195 million this year.)

Mayfield, an owner/driver, will use such figures to compute his future lost earnings. Even if he resumes racing, his reputation is in tatters. He likely can never secure the lucrative corporate sponsorships that are the life-blood of every race team.

It’s been a puzzling case from the start. It’s hard to believe that Mayfield, aware that under NASCAR’s policy he could be drug-tested at any time, would play Russian roulette with his hard-earned career.

It’s equally hard to believe that NASCAR and its drug technicians could be so careless as to produce a flawed test and publicly brand Mayfield as a meth user.

Both sides have dug in their heels. NASCAR insists Mayfield used methamphetamines. He insists he’s never touched the poison. Mayfield said he took legal, prescribed medicines and nothing more.

Under NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy, it won’t tell competitors exactly what drugs are banned. Illegal drugs are prohibited, of course, but so are any others that could “impair performance.” Legal analysts warned from the start that such a hazy policy could create enforcement problems.

NASCAR indicated it would continue the fight and plans to drug-test Mayfield every time he steps onto a racetrack. That’s a plus for Mayfield. He’s obviously not going to mess with anything now (even if he ever did), so every negative test that NASCAR conducts will be a positive for Mayfield.

The case represents more than a potentially huge legal settlement; it challenges NASCAR’s right to rule the sport, meaning to decide who can race and who can’t. Over the past 60 years, many have attempted to buck NASCAR and all have failed.

That may be about to end.