Check the entry list on the Nascar.com homepage.

My thought on the matter: I understand why (points, Champion's provisional), and there's probably blame on both sides (Jeremy and Ray), but, well, fuck that shit. I don't like the way Ray runs his organization.

:bam

bye Jeremy. THis seals the deal

Mayfield 'doubts' he will be back at Evernham UPDATE 3 Mayfield out at Watkins Glen? Elliott listed: While #19-Jeremy Mayfield told reporters Saturday that he doubts he'll be back with Evernham Motorsports next year, team owner Ray Evernham said no decisions have been reached. Asked following qualifying for the Allstate 400 if Mayfield has inquired about his release, Evernham said they'd discussed a number of things. "But we haven't made any decisions," Evernham said. "The first thing we honestly both said was, 'Let's fix this first, because no matter what we decide to do, we can't leave this thing like it is. We have to prove that we can do it. Jeremy's got options, the same as many other drivers. Why wouldn't he? He's been in the Chase two years in a row. If I was a team owner starting a new team, he'd be one of the guys I'd be looking after, too." Mayfield has struggled this season, working with a new crew after Evernham swapped his teams following the 2005 season. Mayfield is coveted by Michael Waltrip Racing and is believed to be a candidate at Bill Davis Racing as well. It's widely believed that Elliott Sadler [currently with RYR in #38 and has been granted his release for 2007] will replace Mayfield, once Mayfield's granted his release. Evernham said such a decision isn't entirely his own. "That's not all up to me," Evernham said. "We have all these [sponsorship] partners. That's a decision that would have to be sat down and talked about between a lot of people."(SceneDaily.com)
AND Jeremy Mayfield is close to signing a deal to drive next season for Bill Davis Racing, multiple sources told NASCAR.com on Saturday. Mayfield, who has a year and two option years remaining on his contract with Evernham Motorsports, would not comment on specific plans for 2007. But he admitted a return next season to the No. 19 Dodge, which reportedly already has been offered to Elliott Sadler, was unlikely. "I doubt I'm staying,'' Mayfield said after qualifying 15th for Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. According to sources, Mayfield already has toured the facilities at Bill Davis Racing and agreed in principal to a multi-year deal to drive one of the organization's two Toyotas next season. Team director Tommy Baldwin confirmed on Friday that Dave Blaney would drive the other car.(NASCAR.com)(8-6-2006)
UPDATE 2: It was hard to figure out what was worse for Evernham Motorsports in the Allstate 400 - Kasey Kahne dropping out of the top 10 in points or Jeremy Mayfield's #19 team dropping out of the top 35 in the car owner standings. Mayfield also has had trouble figuring things out all season, and an accident helped relegate him to a 41st-place finish. His team dropped behind #40-David Stremme's in points and he won't be locked in for the Aug. 13 race at Watkins Glen. Evernham was asked after the race if he would consider putting a road-course ace into the car to make sure it qualifies. "I'm going to get together tomorrow with all the other parties and make a decision," Evernham said. "We've just got to sit down and figure it out."(SceneDaily.com)(8-7-2006)
UPDATE 3: Bill Elliott is now listed as the driver of the #19 Evernham Motorsports Dodge for Watkins Glen per nascar.com's entry list, looks like Mayfield will sit the road course race out since the #19 is now out of the top-35 in owners points, Elliott running the #19 guarantee's the team will race at Watkins Glen since Elliott has the past champions provisional to use and none of the other non top-35 teams have a past champ in their cars.(8-8-2006)

Elliott to replace Mayfield in No. 19 at The Glen

Mayfield said no one has told him about change in entry list


By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
August 8, 2006
02:05 PM EDT (18:05 GMT)



Jeremy Mayfield may be free to leave Evernham Motorsports for Bill Davis Racing sooner than he expected.

Bill Elliott will be in the No. 19 Dodge that Mayfield has driven for Evernham since 2002 this weekend at Watkins Glen International, according to the Nextel Cup entry list released by NASCAR on Tuesday.

Team owner Ray Evernham could not be immediately reached for comment.

Mayfield, who said last weekend at Indianapolis he likely would not be at Evernham Motorsports next season, said nobody in the organization has contacted him about a switch.

"It's not professional, that's for sure,'' said Mayfield, who crashed on Lap 82 of Sunday's race at Indianapolis and fell out of the top 35 in owners' points and a guaranteed spot in the next race. "That's the way everything has worked around here for a while.''

Multiple sources told NASCAR.COM on Saturday that Mayfield, who has one year and two options years left on his deal at EMS, was close to a deal to drive for Bill Davis Racing's new Toyota team next season once he was given his release.

Elliott Sadler, who last month was given his release from Robert Yates Racing after the season, reportedly already has accepted a deal to replace Mayfield in 2007.

Mayfield admitted he's had discussions with Bill Davis, as well as Michael Waltrip and several other car owners.

Mayfield, who made the Chase for the Nextel Cup the past two seasons, also said he wanted to finish this season in the No. 19.

"I really don't know what to say,'' Mayfield said.

Mayfield has been frustrated with the performance of his team most of the season. But the frustration began before the season when crew chief Kenny Francis and the rest of his crew were moved to Kasey Kahne's team.

Kahne crashed on the last lap of Sunday's race to fall to 11th in points, one spot out of those that qualify for the Chase that will be set after five races.

Mayfield said he hasn't talked to Evernham since leaving Indianapolis. He doesn't know if being replaced this weekend means his contract with EMS is null and void.

"This is all a surprise to me,'' he said.

As a Bill Elliott fan, I'm thrilled to see him back with EMS in a full-time Nextel Cup ride. Even though he has that past champion's provision and that's one of the reasons why he's in the car, Bill's one of the most experienced road course racers out there. I remember a few years ago, he finished top five in Infineon with a broken foot. He also scored his first win at a road course.

I can't find any articles yet, but I'm interested in hearing more about this. Was Indy the last race for Jeremy, or will he be back in the car later? I hate this decision for Jeremy and all of his fans...but maybe there's more to this than meets to eye. Elliott Sadler or whatever driver is interested in the 19 may not be interested in driving the car if it's outside the top 35 entering 2006. EMS could lost its potential driver, maybe even sponsor, and cause the organization to go back to two cars or something similar that would hurt the whole organization if Jeremy failed to qualify for Watkins Glen, putting the 19 too far out of the top 35 to recover.

So, I don't know how to feel. I'm very curious to see the results of this, though.

For shame, Ray, for shame...

I guess it's true that he hasn't been very hands-on [the car, that is] in a while. And he certainly hasn't been thinking with his head [on his shoulders] according to Jeremy, either. I expected better.

Like I said.

:bam

Oh, also...anyone remember this?

http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/main.cf...articleId=10468

Maybe Ray could field a 4th car for Jeremy. I think that would be the least he could do, but it seems like the 4th car won't happen like originally planned. I think Boris Said was scheduled to drive it but decided to start his own team with Roush instead.

That'd be nice to see, but I won't hold my breath.

here's the article from foxsports.com Elliott replaces Mayfield in No. 19 at Watkins Glen

It's not very good looking on Ray's part when your driver finds out he's being replaced when someone else calls him. But I think this just severed all ties with Ray and Jeremy and Jer will be gone sooner then we all thought.

I agree. It makes Ray look like a pansy.

damn.
true there are plenty of reasons why Ray would do this which have already been stated, but with Jeremy out for this one race it would be a very uncomfortable atmosphere to come back to the following weekend, so who knows maybe we will see Jeremy in another car sooner than we thought.

Not to throw Ray under the bus and start an argument, remember this is just my opinion, but if Ray is really committed to getting the program where it needs to be wouldn't be want to put some of his focus on his cup teams? I can kinda understand where Jeremy was coming from with this whole thing. Ray needs to realize he has 3 other teams besides Erin and her truck team. I can understand she's the developmental driver, but there are other teams that have them too and the car owners are still at the track week in and week out with the cup teams besides...

I agree with Kim there's gonna be some tension there

:nod

I agree.

I like Jerm alot but for selfish reasons; I'm not really thrilled that this shit is going down when Kasey and his crew need to be 100% focused on the task at hand. There doesn't need to be any outside disturbances. Ray needs to man up and cut back on his time with Erin's racing and focus on the Cup program.

For the first time ever I think we agree.

All I can say is wow....

I fully agree that there is more to all of this than what we've been privy to. Peter brings up some interesting thoughts on what a top 35 in owner points could mean and it's not a bad theory at all. With the amount of new teams going to be trying to get into the races, a top 35 in points is VERY important. And very important to a driver the team may be trying to get to come over.

In most goings on, there are usually three sides to the story, guy 1's side, guy 2's side and the truth somewhere inbetween. In NASCAR there is something like 15 stories before we get to the truth when we work in drivers, owners, sponsors, team members and so on. It's just nuts and I don't think as fans we ever get the whole truth.

Indeed. Things seem to have been tense at the 19 all season and have gotten increasingly worse in recent weeks. This is definitley going to be a very precarious situation after Watkins Glen. Does also lead to will we see Jeremy in the 19 for the rest of the season or will he be in another car sooner? Does this null Jeremy's contract? Is there something in the contract about if he falls out of the top 35? Too many unanswered questions.

I second that. All of that. The inner bickerings and turmoil on one team does effect the other teams as well. And right now Kasey & crew don't need the distractions. I do believe that they are a strong enough team to deal with it if everyone just keeps their heads on straight.

Right now, I'd really like to see Ray a bit more active in the Cup teams. I understand he does have an obligation to his developmental driver program and sponsors, but with it being only 5 races from the Chase at this time Cup should be thee priority. Of course, maybe this switch in the 19 is Ray being more involved. I'm really not sure that Jeremy and Ray can work well together anymore after some of the things that have gone down in the past month or so.

I guess all we can really do here is wait to see how it all plays out. I have my fingers crossed that it all works out for the best in the end.

Very good point! And it's easy to forget that Ray has another developmental driver under contract, AJ Foyt IV. Of course it's easy to forget because he hasn't had a ride in a few months and he's never mentioned. (According to the Foyt and Evernham websites, he's still an Evernham driver, but I have no idea when those sites were updated.) So if Ray was focusing on developmental drivers, he should have focused on both (maybe not equally, but not all or nothing. He had said on NBS 24/7 that he was going to have AJ race in ARCA, but...).

Wow, I really wasn't expecting this to happen, especially with Jeremy not being told about it. That is very disappointing, but perhaps Ray considers it "payback" for Jeremy going to the media when all this started. Still, not very professional for the "good friends" they keep saying they are. :(

And I do hope that it doesn't turn into a huge distraction for Kasey. But as I mentioned yesterday (after reading that nascar.com article where Kenny sounded so frustrated), Ray needs to focus solely on Cup for the next five weeks. I hope he (and Erin) realize that. It's not a benefit to her in the long run if the upper-tier programs suffer this season.

been checking out jeremy's msg board just to be sure they aren't blaming Kasey (and they haven't - all has been directed towards Ray). I thought this was funny though.

I checked some out today, too...yep, all the blame is going towards Ray (as it should).

And that pic...nice...

You said it better than I could, Katie. *sigh* I just don't like this at all. It doesn't seem very professional to not inform Jeremy about the switch. I like Ray and I keep hoping there's more to this that we haven't been told. :bam

~ Mary

Court had posted the article from nascar.com earlier in this thread. However, they've updated it...

for the full updated article....Updated: Elliott to replace Mayfield in No. 19 at The Glen

here's just the new stuff in the article now

As for Jeremy not having found out before the media....OK, I see it was an EMS spokesperson that said discussions with Mayfield Motorsports started on Monday, and maybe the spokesperson is full of it, but if those discussions really did start Monday, then is it Ray or is it Jeremy's people that failed to tell him? One side or the other is a bit full of it--just no idea who.

I never commented on the "i didn't know" subject b/c I think I posted way back that the ink is already dry in regards to Jerm and MW. I'm sure that if EMS spoke with Mayfield Motorsports then Jeremy knew -hell the guy that runs it for him is his spotter. Call it a love gone bad.

wow this happened faster than i thought it would! but that's nascar for you! lol

I'm not even going to get into the Ray parts......cause I don't have the facts, I don't work there and I'm sure there is a lot more than we are seeing in any article to this......

I hate to see Jeremy go, especially like this. But at this point Ray has to make a move, the team needs to get back in the Top 35 in owners points for next year. Hopefully Bill will drive a few more races for Ray in the 19 if Jeremy is out for good, which it looks like and it will be interesting to see who they put in the car the rest of the time.

I'm sad to see Kasey losing a good teammate like Jeremy, but I think its best for both sides cause its been coming for months, I just hope this doesn't hurt EMS as a whole and especially Kasey right now with the Chase looming.

Let's go EMS and good luck Jeremy! :na

Ray definitely seems to need to reorganize his proiorities.

has it entered your mind that that is exactly what he is doing. just my opinion

like so many have said, we don't know all of the facts and to be honest, we most likely never will.

I wasn't bashing him, jeez.

I don't know all the facts, so that is why I didn't say anything else.

whoa, no reason to be rude.

I too am hoping that this won't hurt or distract Kasey & team right now. On the other hand though, perhaps it will also be some relief to the all the teams. Jeremy has been upset/unhappy for alot of the season and has been increasingly vocal about it lately. That in itself has got to have been a distraction along with the rumors and speculations. I'm not blaming Jeremy, he's been unhappy and said so, but it's got to have been a negative energy through EMS at the track and back at the shop.

Maybe with a decision having been reached (and an announcement coming soon) the teams will be able to concentrate on just racing a bit better rather than worrying what's going on with the 19, etc. Feelings about it asside, sometimes just knowing that "this is where it is" is easier to deal with than all the speculation and such.

I do wish Jeremy the best of luck wherever it is he winds up doing.

Go Kasey, Go EMS!

I wasn't being rude.

I did plainly state the that was "just my opinion"

Trust me if I could be a lot more vocal on my thoughts on this. Those thoughts would definitely come across as being worse that rude. So I am choosing to keep those thoughts to myself.

Likewise, it was my opinion that your tone was a bit condescending.

But back to the subject at hand, I like Kasey but I don't care for his team owner one bit.

So...what happens if Bill Elliott doesn't qualify for the race? Yes, I know you are all thinking "oh but he has the past champion's provisional" but, according to Jayski:

PDATE - No Champ Provisional Allowed? NASCAR's official entry list Tuesday showed Elliott subbing for Mayfield, and the team later released a statement confirming the switch. It said Mayfield's long-term future with Evernham is undecided - but his name had been removed from the company letterhead. "This team has a great deal of potential and we just haven't met the expectations this year," car owner Ray Evernham said in a statement. "We will do whatever we need to get this car in the show for Watkins Glen. It's important to our sponsors and it's important to this team." That meant putting Elliott in the car because as a former NASCAR champion, he should have been assured a spot in the field. But in a statement released on Wednesday, Evernham Motorsports said, "Unfortunately the timing was such that NASCAR will not provide us with the provisional."(FoxSports/Associated Press)(8-9-2006)

Yes, I know, chances are he will make the race. But what if he doesn't? This'll blow up in Ray's face.

I knew NASCAR penalized teams who sent their entry blanks in late by not rewarding them points. I never knew that NASCAR had a penalty for teams that revised their entry by adding a past champion, but I think that's a smart rule. It helps keep teams from taking advantage of the past champion's provisional, which a lot of teams have been doing and plan to do in the future. Just look at the 96. Without Terry Labonte driving that car the first five races of the season, they would have missed a few races and may have never even made the top 35. In my opinion, Nextel Cup should have a rule like Busch that states that the past champion's provisional can only be used once every seven races for a driver or team.

Anyway, without the past champion's provisional, there's a chance that Bill could miss the race...especially since he hasn't raced on a road course (at least not in NASCAR) in three years. I believe that the 19 car has what it takes and that Bill Elliott will qualify for the race on speed, but if not, then I think it'll pretty much assure that he's in the car for the rest of the year, excluding the five races that he's going to run for Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull. Why? The #19 will be in an even deeper hole that will require a driver like Awesome Bill to get it out of, and Bill will have the past champion's provisional for the rest of the races he runs because the entry blank will be submitted on time with his name on. And Bill will be able to help the team improve more than any driver out there, setting it up to run great in 2007 with Elliott Sadler.

There’s probably a chance that Elliott Sadler could be in the 19 before the end of the season, but I don’t see that happening with it currently outside of the top 35 in points. I think that Bill will run almost all of the remainder of the season, with a few other veterans in the car (like maybe Ricky Craven, Ricky Rudd, Ward Burton, or even Mike Wallace) for the races that Bill can’t run. If they could get the car safely in the top 35, I could even see a younger driver getting a race or two in the car…like Casey Atwood, Tracy Hines, and maybe even Erin Crocker. Similar to what Ray did with the 6 car in Busch during 2005.

I’m pretty sure that Jeremy’s done with the team. I’m sorry about that and wish him the best of luck for the future. I’m excited to see Bill and whoever else runs the 19 get this great opportunity, though.

Oh wow. :o

I am such a loser, I saw this thread thinking it was Esad and it's not. :lmao