Mayfield's Demise
Jeremy Mayfield
Is he out?
Is he the reason that Everham let him go?
Or, was it something else?
Why are his cars not performing?
These are some questions that the press feel
that they have answered but have they?
Let's look at one thing first. Sponsors! They spend several million dollars in their advertising budget to be well represented in Nascar. Although, I don't know what was spent on Mayfield's team, a good number of sponsors spend as much as $20 million dollars. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand who has the abilities to call the shots on how their money is being handled. Maybe some of you might know the answers to the questions that this blog brings up. If so, please respond. Did Mayfield's sponsor go with him or did they stay with Ray Everham to represent whoever is named to take Jeremy's place?
Jeremy stated that the team didn't see much of Ray around the shop anymore. It was felt that he was spending the majority of his time grooming Erin Crocker and her team. Why not? Erin is doing a great job in ARCA. The Nascar Truck Series has been more challenging for her but she has slowly been improving there also. As an analogy, if you are preparing to sell a house, you try to improve its "curb appeal." That is exactly what Ray is doing for the future of his organization.
I would imagine that he isn't around Kasey Kahne's team that much either. But Kasey is putting numbers on the board and is considered a serious competitor. A lot of teams prefer that the owner spend his time looking for more ways to make the organization stronger rather than breathing over their shoulders all the time.
Let's look at teams for a moment and the role the presence of an owner plays. Do you actually thing that a team and a crew chief go totally stupid just because the team owner isn't around as much as he used to be. I don't think so. But, is Jeremy's team the same as it was a few years ago? Has Ray pulled some of the better team members and put them with other drivers and left Jeremy with people of less experience. That could certainly explain why he hasn't been running as well. Remember the $20 million bucks? That doesn't make very good sense when it comes to keeping a sponsor happy. Of course, we all know that great crew chiefs grow on trees, that there are an abundance of them out there ripe for the picking. Yeah, right!
What about contracts? How far can a driver go in expressing his discontent without breeching his contracts both with sponsors and with car owners. I'm sure most of you have known people that totally hated where they worked. How many of them kept their jobs if they went public expressing their resentments? I would imagine very few, if any.
The job of being a Nextel Cup driver is very complex and stressful. Everything has to click just right in order to keep a driver happy and mentally prepared. Jeremy proved as he came up through the ranks that he was a very good race car driver. The last two years showed it. If a driver is being overly stressed by his sponsors making too many public appearances and commercials, he can't do his job if he he is constantly concerned about his position with his sponsor. He can't properly mentally prepare for a race if his mind is cluttered with anamosities with either his car owner or his sponsor. No one is perfect, and yet, that burden is placed on the driver's shoulders everytime he walks out the front door of his house. Because of such close scrutiny, a driver may feel that his life is just a series of screw-ups unless he has a close-knit group to keep his spirits up. For Jeremy, he felt that Ray was no longer one of his supporters and, without that feeling of belief from your car owner, it can have serious effects on your confidence and mental preparation as a driver.
Our local newspaper portrayed Jeremy as a misfit who screwed up his opportunities. Remember the $20 million bucks! Something really bad must have happened to cause Jeremy to want to walk away from what most of us think of as a "dream of a lifetime." I don't think it can be sumed up in just a few paragraphs.
I sincerely hope that Jeremy finds a competitive ride that will promote his abilities. In the highly competitive world of Nascar, that can be extremely tough. After all, think of Ward Burton, a very good driver in his own right. He is now on the outside looking in. He did nothing wrong.
Jeremy stated that the team didn't see much of Ray around the shop anymore. It was felt that he was spending the majority of his time grooming Erin Crocker and her team. Why not? Erin is doing a great job in ARCA. The Nascar Truck Series has been more challenging for her but she has slowly been improving there also. As an analogy, if you are preparing to sell a house, you try to improve its "curb appeal." That is exactly what Ray is doing for the future of his organization.
I would imagine that he isn't around Kasey Kahne's team that much either. But Kasey is putting numbers on the board and is considered a serious competitor. A lot of teams prefer that the owner spend his time looking for more ways to make the organization stronger rather than breathing over their shoulders all the time.
Let's look at teams for a moment and the role the presence of an owner plays. Do you actually thing that a team and a crew chief go totally stupid just because the team owner isn't around as much as he used to be. I don't think so. But, is Jeremy's team the same as it was a few years ago? Has Ray pulled some of the better team members and put them with other drivers and left Jeremy with people of less experience. That could certainly explain why he hasn't been running as well. Remember the $20 million bucks? That doesn't make very good sense when it comes to keeping a sponsor happy. Of course, we all know that great crew chiefs grow on trees, that there are an abundance of them out there ripe for the picking. Yeah, right!
What about contracts? How far can a driver go in expressing his discontent without breeching his contracts both with sponsors and with car owners. I'm sure most of you have known people that totally hated where they worked. How many of them kept their jobs if they went public expressing their resentments? I would imagine very few, if any.
The job of being a Nextel Cup driver is very complex and stressful. Everything has to click just right in order to keep a driver happy and mentally prepared. Jeremy proved as he came up through the ranks that he was a very good race car driver. The last two years showed it. If a driver is being overly stressed by his sponsors making too many public appearances and commercials, he can't do his job if he he is constantly concerned about his position with his sponsor. He can't properly mentally prepare for a race if his mind is cluttered with anamosities with either his car owner or his sponsor. No one is perfect, and yet, that burden is placed on the driver's shoulders everytime he walks out the front door of his house. Because of such close scrutiny, a driver may feel that his life is just a series of screw-ups unless he has a close-knit group to keep his spirits up. For Jeremy, he felt that Ray was no longer one of his supporters and, without that feeling of belief from your car owner, it can have serious effects on your confidence and mental preparation as a driver.
Our local newspaper portrayed Jeremy as a misfit who screwed up his opportunities. Remember the $20 million bucks! Something really bad must have happened to cause Jeremy to want to walk away from what most of us think of as a "dream of a lifetime." I don't think it can be sumed up in just a few paragraphs.
I sincerely hope that Jeremy finds a competitive ride that will promote his abilities. In the highly competitive world of Nascar, that can be extremely tough. After all, think of Ward Burton, a very good driver in his own right. He is now on the outside looking in. He did nothing wrong.
posted by larryjack at 9:08 AM
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