NASCAR countersues Mayfield, makes reference to "illegal" drug involved

  
Jeremy Mayfield: NASCAR hits back hard (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   POCONO, Pa.
   NASCAR is now countersuing Jeremy Mayfield in the latest chapter of the Mayfield 'substance abuse' case, now in federal court in Charlotte.
   NASCAR's Ramsey Poston announced late Friday that the sport's sanctioning body was countersuing Mayfield "for willfully violating" NASCAR's substance abuse policy.
     NASCAR's counterclaim says "that Mayfield knowingly participated in NASCAR-sanctioned competition using a combination of drugs in violation of NASCAR's substance abuse policy. And in doing do, he violated his contract with NASCAR and the standards of care he owed other drivers and spectators.
    "Mayfield's willful misconduct at the race track in which he competed (Richmond last month) while an illegal substance was still in his system is evidence that he presented a danger to himself and others.
   "In addition to the use of illegal drugs Mayfield has now admitted he used another drug without informing NASCAR. When he consumed that drug in conjunction with another medication, he exceeded safe levels and violated NASCAR's substance abuse policies."
   Poston said "NASCAR's substance abuse policy is in place to protect the competitors, spectators and the integrity of the sport."
   The next step in the court case is unclear.
   NASCAR's use of the phrase "illegal substance" in the court records now, is curious, because it is the first time that the sanctioning body has used the word "illegal" in this case. When asked to clarify the use of that word, NASCAR officials declined to amplify.
    Mayfield's attorneys have said that he used Claratin-D and Adderall on the weekend in question, and that the use of Adderall was under a doctor's prescription, for Mayfield's attention deficit disorder. Adderall is a mixture of various amphetamines.
    NASCAR's countersuit now appears to include the implication that Mayfield not only used Claratin-D and Adderall at Richmond but a third substance that was banned by NASCAR's substance abuse policy. What that third substance might be is unclear. The judge in the case has put a gag order on the participants on that part of the debate.