New details of the July 6 drug test of Jeremy Mayfield conducted by NASCAR are among the documents NASCAR filed Wednesday in its request to U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen to suspend his injunction and reinstate the owner/driver’s suspension for use of methamphetamines.
Mayfield obtained the injunction, which NASCAR has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, on July 1, and as part of the injunction, Mullen said NASCAR could test Mayfield for drugs.
The lab results from July 6 provided as an exhibit to its motion state that Mayfield tested 100 percent positive for methamphetamines. Mayfield attorney John Buric said that Mayfield provided another sample within an hour after giving NASCAR a sample, and preliminary results on that test were negative although it still needs to be tested using the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method used by Aegis Laboratories, which administers the NASCAR drug tests.
According to the affidavits filed by NASCAR, here is how the day went:
• Regina Sweeney, client services manager for Aegis, talked to Mayfield at 1:18 p.m. EDT. She told him he had two hours to appear for urine collection and wanted to know where he was so she could give him a close location. He told her that he wanted to talk to his attorney. She called Mayfield at 2:20 p.m. to tell him he had an hour left, and he told her that his attorney would handle it and that he didn’t need the name of the collection site.
• According to Sweeney, Mayfield called her back at 3:05 p.m. to find a collection place nearby and she gave him a lab he could go to, and at 3:20 p.m., Mayfield called and said he was on his way, that he had called the collection site for directions and got directions.
• According to Cindy Burry of Wolfe Drug Testing in Concord, N.C., Mayfield left messages for her at 3:20 p.m. and 3:22 p.m., and she called Mayfield at 3:23 p.m. and gave him directions. At 3:45 p.m., he called for more directions, and she asked him for a landmark or a building so she could give him better directions. He said he would call her back. She did not hear back and was at her desk from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Mark Jessop, the vice president of Wolfe Drug Testing, said he monitored the phones from 5-5:30 p.m. and Buric left a message at 5:29 p.m. on Burry’s phone. Buric said that Mayfield had tried to call and he only got a busy signal. Jessop called Buric back, reached him on his second attempt, and Buric told Jessop that collectors were going to be sent to Mayfield’s home.
• At 7:23 p.m., NASCAR manager of security Forrest Frazier, a former narcotics investigator for the state of California, talked to Mayfield’s wife, Shana, and she gave him directions to their home, and he told her he would arrive soon.
• Frazier, Randy Taylor, an employee of testing collection agency Examone, and Cyndi Nash, an employee of CK’s Drug Testing Services, arrived at Mayfield’s home between 7:35 and 7:40 p.m., where they were met at the front door as they approached the home. They were met by Mayfield, his wife and a videographer. Jeremy Mayfield told them that the footage would be used later as part of a documentary, according to Frazier.
• Taylor said Mayfield became agitated when it was explained that he would be observed collecting the sample. Mayfield called his lawyer, Taylor said, and then went with his wife into a back portion of the house.
• According to Nash, “During Mr. Mayfield’s discussion with his attorney, Mrs. Mayfield repeatedly apologized for Mr. Mayfield’s profanity. Mrs. Mayfield also repeatedly asked Mr. Mayfield, ‘Please try, just try.’”
• At about 8 p.m., NASCAR managing director for racing operations Jim Cassidy talked to Mayfield by phone and told him that, after checking with Dr. David Black, the director of Aegis Laboratories, he told Mayfield that NASCAR wanted to observe the collection, and if he decided not to do the test, it would be considered a positive test.
• Taylor and Mayfield left the living room, and Taylor observed Mayfield providing the sample. “Once we started the test, Mr. Mayfield was cooperative and there were no difficulties,” Taylor said in his affidavit. According to the drug testing and control form, Taylor obtained the sample at 8:20 p.m.
• Nash also said that Mayfield did not want both vials of his sample to go to Aegis, saying that he had a problem with that lab and that Aegis had a problem with him.
• According to Black, the sample was tested for methamphetamine using a validated gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method, which distinguishes between the use of methamphetamine, amphetamine and pseudoephedrine and “which also protects against the possibility of a false positive finding due to the use of Adderall and/or pseudoephedrine.” Mayfield has claimed that his positive test May 1 was the result of the combination of those those two drugs.
• According to Black, the sample showed 4,380 nanogramps of methamphetamine per milliliter and that there was no detectable or reportable amount of pseudoephedrine at a threshold of 2,000 nanograms per milliliter. The test results, completed in the morning July 10, that Aegis provided showed that it was 100 percent positive for d-methamphetamine, the substance that typically is abused. The sample was then “normalized” to take into account the dilute nature of the sample, and the results showed 67,000 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter. “These tests results confirm that Mayfield continues to use methamphetamine and presents an extreme risk to himself as well as the lives and safety of all drivers, crew, officials and fans if he is permitted to race in NASCAR events,” Black said.
• Black said that a B sample is available for testing at any independent laboratory that must be able to perform an analysis for d-methampehtamine and d-amphetamine using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.
The timeline in the court documents is fairly consistent with what previously had been reported, although Buric had said the initial call went to voice mail.
Buric said Wednesday that he expects to file a response by Friday to NASCAR’s motion to have the injunction revoked and the suspension reinstated.
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