NASCAR sends Jeremy Mayfield's sample to independent lab
Court documents show that NASCAR has had suspended owner/driver Jeremy Mayfield’s urine sample tested at a second lab in addition to the one that allegedly found initial evidence of an illegal substance.
According to documents filed in Mayfield’s lawsuit seeking to have his suspension lifted, NASCAR sent Mayfield’s urine sample to MedTox Laboratories, which completed an analysis Thursday morning of two specimens. The results of the analysis, as well as the name of the person whose urine was tested, are blacked out or not listed, but it would be highly unlikely that NASCAR would submit a test result to the court that didn’t back up its previous assertion that Mayfield had an illegal drug in his system when tested May 1.
Mayfield has argued that the test produced a false positive for methamphetamines, the result of a combination of prescription drug Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and over-the-counter Claritin-D allergy medicine. NASCAR, which has not named the drug, has asserted that could not be the case.
Mayfield’s lawyers have argued that earlier backup test results should be declared invalid because the test was performed by the same lab that issued the initial finding. Aegis Laboratories, which administers NASCAR’s drug-testing program from its Tennessee headquarters, conducted both of those initial tests. Mayfield has argued that under federal agency drug-testing guidelines, backup tests should be administered by independent second parties.
The driver’s legal team has also argued in court filings that NASCAR couldn’t have a proper test done on the May 1 sample because the seal had been broken on the samples to conduct the earlier tests that resulted in Mayfield’s indefinite suspension May 9.
“Assuming that sample bottle B could [have been] delivered to the second laboratory, the integrity of the process has been compromised by the opening of the sample container and the removal of a portion of the urine sample for analysis,” said Dr. Harry Plotnick, an expert for Mayfield.
Dr. David Black, president of Aegis, stated in an affidavit filed Thursday night that the urine was still suitable for testing.
“Since their delivery to Aegis, the Jeremy Mayfield A- and B-samples have remained under Aegis’s custody and control, except that portion sent to MedTox Laboratories for reconfirmation testing,” Black said in his affidavit. “The samples have at all time remained stored consistent with accredited forensic sample storage procedures and have not been adulterated.
“While the seals on the A- and B-samples have been broken to permit testing of the urine that they contain, sufficient unadulterated samples remain to confirm Aegis’s test results.”
The MedTox results were filed among exhibits submitted in preparation for a Wednesday hearing in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, where the court will hear arguments on Mayfield’s request for a preliminary injunction to keep NASCAR from enforcing the suspension.
