Evernham fires Mayfield

By Mark Ashenfelter

Friday, August 11, 2006

KENT GILLEY

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Jeremy Mayfield, whom Ray Evernham said he terminated on Monday, was hoping to stall the firing by getting a temporary injunction Friday. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. in North Carolina Superior Court in Iredell County.

"Jeremy Mayfield has been terminated,"Evernham said. "We have 2007 plans in place. We hope to be able to announce them soon."

While Mayfield is expected to drive for Bill Davis Racing beginning next year, a source familiar with the situation said that team doesn't have an immediate ride available for the driver.

Evernham Motorsports, though, is looking for a driver for the rest of the season and owner Ray Evernham would welcome the chance to get a jump on 2007 if the driver he's signed for next year were to become available sooner.

That driver is expected to be Elliott Sadler, who may be available by the Aug. 18-20 Michigan Cup race weekend if Robert Yates Racing grants his release after Watkins Glen.

For now, Bill Elliott is in the No. 19 Evernham Motorsports Dodge and Sadler remains in RYR's No. 38 Ford. Evernham said the reasoning behind the change was simple from his perspective.

"Purely the performance of the car and the team is not where it should be to represent sponsors," he said Friday. "It's out of the top 35 in points now and that was really the big trigger on making a change. We just haven't delivered as a group on what we should be doing, so we needed to make some changes."

A wreck at Indy knocked the No. 19 team out of the top 35, meaning its not guaranteed a starting spot for the AMD at the Glen.

"It's one of those where as hard as you try to turn things around if they're not working, sometimes you just have to make a change to get it to work and it's certainly not been because of a lack of effort," Evernham said.

Elliott is currently scheduled to attempt two more races for Michael Waltrip Racing and three for Team Red Bull. Evernham is expected to utilize the former champion's talent as often as possible until a more permanent replacement for the No. 19 team is found.

"The decision to make the change in the 19 had nothing to do with whether that could or couldn't happen," Evernham said of Elliott's availability. "It would make the most sense if we could do that, for sure. ... But I can tell you that just having Bill Elliott back in the car is pleasant again."

A phone call to Dale Cagle, Mayfield's business agent, was not immediately returned on Friday.

RYR co-owner Doug Yates isn't sure what the future holds. While it's not been announced yet, David Gilliland will take over for Sadler, either sometime this year or next.

"All that just happened, so we have to look at that and see what works," Yates said of potentially releasing Sadler prior to year's end. "We haven't really talked about that right now, but I'm not saying it's out of the question."

If so, would Gilliland run more than seven races, making him ineligible for rookie of the year honors in '07?

"David and I have talked about that," Yates said. " ... He feels right now he'd rather be in the car as much as he could, so that's the most important thing."

- Bob Pockrass contributed to this report.