Jeremy Mayfield

He currently drives the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger for Evernham Motorsports with teammates Kasey Kahne and Bill Elliott. His most recent victory was the 2005 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan on August 21, 2005. After winning this race, he jumped to sixth-place in the Nextel Cup points standings. Previous rides include the #12 Mobil 1 Ford and #37 K-Mart Ford.

Jeremy Mayfield demonstrated at a very young age that he had a passion for speed. At the age of four, he was riding his motorcycle in circles as fast as he could go. It proved to be excellent training for his first job – a local paper route. Up at 5 a.m., Mayfield covered his route swiftly, pedaling himself through the neighborhood on his bicycle while hurling papers on the doorstep of his customers. He quickly advanced from pedaling his bike in the neighborhood to racing BMX bikes at a local track in his hometown, Owensboro, Ky. From bikes, he advanced to go-karts, Street Stocks and then Late Models. He’s been on the throttle ever since. Success on the short tracks of central Tennessee prompted Mayfield to move to Nashville at the age of 19 in pursuit of a career in racing. His first job was with Sadler Racing as a fabricator. He worked every job around the race shop and was rewarded with a Late Model car to race. In 1987, he was Kentucky Motor Speedway’s Rookie of the Year.

In 1993, Mayfield raced on the ARCA circuit and had eight top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, good enough for Rookie of the Year honors for that series. Sadler provided Mayfield with a car for his first NASCAR Winston Cup start which came in October 1993 at Charlotte. In 1994, Mayfield ran four Winston Cup races with Sadler and four with T. W. Taylor before getting a call from Cale Yarborough. Mayfield finished the season running 12 races for Yarborough in preparation for his first full Winston Cup season in 1995. Mayfield joined forces with Michael Kranefuss near the end of the 1996 season. With eventual backing from Penske Racing, Mayfield remained with the team through the 2001 season.

Mayfield was picked by Ray Evernham to pilot the No.19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge in 2002. Mayfield finished 26th in his first season with Evernham. There was continued improvement in 2003 as Mayfield secured his first pole for Evernham Motorsports at Talladega in April and finished 19th in the point standings. However, the progress didn’t meet the expectation of the two and there was speculation the partnership would be terminated at the conclusion of the 2003 season. A meeting between Evernham and Mayfield late in the season resulted in a renewed commitment for the partnership. Mayfield finished the 2003 season strong and the improvement continued right into the 2004 season. Mayfield got his first win with Evernham Motorsports at Richmond in September and secured a berth in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. He finished 10th in the season standings.

For 2005, Mayfield is ready to continue the momentum of the 2004 season and challenge for the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship. Kenny Francis returns as the No. 19 Dodge Team Director and has added the services of Richard “Slugger” Labbe as crew chief. Mayfield will be seeing action in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2005, running 12 races in the No. 64 Dodge for car-owner Rusty Wallace. He will also drive the Evernham Motorsports No. 79 Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Dodge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October.