Mayfield to Dodge????

[Elwood]

From Yahoo Sports:

 

Mayfield being courted by Dodge

By Lee Spencer - The Sporting News

 

 

Jeremy Mayfield knows what it's like to be wanted again, and boy does it feel good.

 

All the Owensboro, Ky., native wants to do is race. Now sources are saying that he'll get the chance behind the wheel of an Evernham Motorsports Dodge in 2002. Mayfield will sit out the next few weeks to attend to personal issues, but could be in a Dodge before the season's end.

 

It's no surprise that Dodge was looking for more out of its $30 million investment in Ray Evernham than two cars running 14th and 31st. Bill Elliott is having by far his best season since 1997 when he came back from being sidelined with a broken thighbone from a crash the year before at Talladega and finished eighth in points.

 

Although there has been speculation of Elliott's retirement, but he could not be reached for comment. Ray Evernham insists that in 2002 "Bill Elliott will be driving the No. 9 Dodge Intrepid and Casey Atwood will be driving the No. 19 Dodge Intrepid. PERIOD."

 

But what about a third team at Evernham's?

 

The highlight of Dodge's coming out party at Daytona in February was definitely Elliott capturing his fifth pole at the track and sharing the front row with fellow Dodge boy Stacy Compton. It was his first pole since Richmond of 1997. The Daytona 500 was also the site of his first top-five since he finished third at the 2000 Brickyard in August. Elliott has won 40 races during his Winston Cup career and led 33 laps last Sunday at Kansas Speedway before losing an engine on lap 134.

 

Rookie Casey Atwood has fared less famously, posting just two top-10s -- 10th at Michigan and ninth at Dover. Atwood missed Atlanta at the start of the season and used just one provisional throughout the rest of the year, but posted his fifth DNF on Sunday.

 

Mayfield, 32, started his Winston Cup career as a fabricator with Sadler Racing in 1990 and earned the opportunity to drive for the team three years later -- the same season he won rookie honors in ARCA. He then caught the eye of Cale Yarborough. Mayfield raced in the No. 98 for the next two years, scoring his first pole at Talladega in his 66th career start and posting two top-five finishes before swapping seats with John Andretti at Kranefuss Racing in 1996.

 

Mayfield's standout season was 1998 when Michael Kranefuss joined forces with Roger Penske. In the first 16 races of the year, Mayfield led the point standing four times and won his first career cup race in his 125th start at Pocono. He finished the season seventh on the leader board with one victory, 12 top-fives and 16 top-10s.

 

Although Mayfield went winless in 1999, he still finished 11th in points. The turning point in his Penske experience was the loss of Paul Andrews, who some consider one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. While the team searched for cohesiveness, teammate Rusty Wallace was becoming less enchanted with the prospect of having a teammate. As the lines of communication shut down, the teammates ran against each other than with each other.

 

And by 2000, Mayfield just wanted out. It had been reported that Mayfield would first go to Chip Ganassi's to become Kenny Irwin's teammate, but that scenario changed after Irwin was tragically killed at New Hampshire. It was then rumored that Mayfield would join Morgan-McClure, but after Penske bought out Kranefuss, it was intimated that in order to regroup that investment, the price to purchase Mayfield's contract escalated.

 

Mayfield's frustration with the team became increasingly vocal this year including Sunday after the Kansas City race.

 

"First of all, you can't bring a '98 model car that we brought here," Mayfield said. "This is a short-track car that has no business being here at Kansas. You can't come here and run with these guys like that. You've got to have the right stuff. Unfortunately, I guess we didn't have a car ready so we had to bring this one. The 10 car (chassis number for the car) is one that shouldn't be here.

 

"The race track is great. It's an awesome facility here and they've done a really good job on it. These guys on the team work their butts off. I don't know. I don't think that's the problem, I think it's self-inflicted."

 

Mayfield could have filled in at the No. 7 Ultra Motorsports Ford. Mike Wallace was granted his release from the No. 7 earlier on Wednesday to drive the No. 12 for the remainder of the season. Now Kevin Lepage will drive for Ultra Motorsports on a race-by-race basis.

 

Wallace, the younger brother of Rusty, ran competitively for Smith in the No. 2 truck before moving to Cup. In 92 CTS starts, Wallace posted four wins, three poles, 29 top-fives and 48 top 10s. His best career finish in standings was fourth-place last year.

 

But the chemistry between Wallace and the team -- first with crew chief Tim Brewer and with the recently released Jim Long -- never materialized. They even canned Wallace after he failed to qualify for Charlotte and Michigan, opting to run Musgrave at Pocono and Robby Gordon at Sears Point, where Gordon nearly won the race.

 

When Gordon declined Smith's offer to remain in the seat -- hoping for the greener pastures at Richard Childress Racing -- Smith desperately rehired Wallace. But after Wallace burned six provisionals, he didn't have a backup when he failed to qualify at Indy and Watkins Glen.

 

Wallace's best start this season was 22nd at New Hampshire and he has yet to post a top-five. Maybe his luck will improve with Penske, however short-lived. Word is that Penske will move Ryan Newman down the street into the current No. 12 shop at the end of the season.

 

Lee Spencer covers NASCAR for The Sporting News.