Anonymous

Login / Create Account

Yo, NASCAR. You're doing it wrong. Where was this weekend in April, when the sport needed it? On Saturday the Denny Hamlin-Brad Keselowski feud came to a head in the Nationwide Series race, with Hamlin exacting revenge by spinning out Keselowski. And in the Ford 400 Sunday, two of the Sprint Cup's most loathsome biggest personalities, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya, tangled at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hey, actual rivalries! And they were fun to watch. Stewart was black-flagged for his on-track mugging of Stewart. Video below.

Jimmie Johnson won a record fourth straight Sprint Cup title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to continue one of the most impressive - and underappreciated - dynasties in all of sports. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, and their Hendrick Motorsports crew, are the most consistently dominant team in Sprint Cup history. No driver has ever accomplished a fourpeat. Only Jeff Gordon (four), Dale Earnhardt (seven) and Richard Petty (seven) have won as many or more championships than Johnson, whose name now must be mentioned along with the all-time greats.

Rick Hendrick will not be on hand to celebrate Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin's Sprint Cup title today because of a family emergency. Alesha Gainey, Rick Hendrick's niece and the daughter of John Hendrick, who was killed in the 2004 plane crash near Martinsville Speedway, is having an emergency liver transplant in North Carolina. She is 29. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Hendrick family.

Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Chase race: No. 10
Date: Sun., Nov. 22, 2009
TV: 2:30 PM ET on ABC
Race time: 3:30 PM ET
Favorite: Jimmie Johnson

The week in review:

• Jay W. Pennell went to Jeremy Mayfield's auction and talked to the suspended driver about his recent comments, Brian France and his future
• Media organizations called shenanigans on Brian France's secretive lawsuit against his ex-wife
• Dan Farkas gave a few reasons why Jimmie Johnson won't win the Chase
• Patrick Reynolds listed the five best Cup championships
• The NASCAR fan crime spree continued thanks to some dumb-ass criminals
• We took a look at The Most Beautiful Person in NASCAR - Krissie Newman
• Tony Stewart called Dale Earnhardt Jr. a 'no-talent s.o.b.'
• The Hamlin-Keselowski feud continued at Phoenix
• Dale Watermill's math said Jimmie Johnson has a 97 percent chance of winning the title
• Rick Hendrick said no deal with Danica is in place ... yet

Comment of the week
From NASCARista, commenting on For sale: One ruined career: "Whether you view Mayfield's auction as a consequence of drug abuse or one man's refusal to bow to a raw deal from NASCAR, this is a terrific story - a side of the sport we don't usually see."

CATAWBA, N.C. _ As NASCAR wraps up its 2009 season in sunny Homestead, Fla., over 800 miles to the north former Sprint Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield held an auction to sell off his personal property and real estate. Nearly 3,000 people showed up on a sunny, fall day to bid on items that ranged from vintage cars to heavy equipment to a 13,000 square-foot home.

Mayfield was suspended in May after NASCAR announced the independent owner/driver had failed a drug test. Involved in numerous lawsuits with NASCAR since, Mayfield has fought to clear his name. Friday served as an opportunity to raise some much-needed cash.

Brian Denne, who lives less than half-a-mile from the property, stopped by for a look at the land he often drove past. Talking with this neighbor, it was clear he felt Mayfield was done wrong. “It could happen to all of us,” Denne said. “He looks like a nice guy with a nice family. It’s really a shame.”

The auction began as a way for the couple to downsize its lifestyle. After more thought, the Mayfields decided to put their private property and real estate on the auction block and start over.

Inside the stables where Iron Horse Auctions conducted the sale, members of the crowd bid as an auctioneer talked a mile-a-minute. Mayfield was in the crowd. In another part of the building his wife Shana had set out some of her clothes and personal items for sale.

With their belongings being sold around them, it would have been understandable for the Mayfields to look down, but that was not the case. Both Jeremy and Shana laughed and joked with friends.

“We’re not going to let it get us down,” Shana said. “We’re fighting and we’re going to keep fighting. I’d rather be here today than in Homestead, to be honest with you. I don’t want to be around people that have treated us the way they’ve treated us and how things have gone down.

“It’s exciting for us. The auction’s fun. We’re having a good time, getting rid of a lot of stuff. It’s fun. It’s just stuff. That’s what we all have to realize. It’s just stuff. What’s important is we’re healthy, we’re happy, we have each other, we’ve got our friends and family and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Jeremy gave up his seat in the crowd to meet with a buyer behind the building. The former driver bent down to sign pieces of sheet metal off his No. 41 car. The buyer won the pieces in the auction and planned to sell them on his eBay store. He said Mayfield still has fans and added that NASCAR was running Mayfield out of the sport.

When I asked Jeremy for an interview, he looked at me and responded, “Man, they’re selling my land. I’ve got to be in there.”

During a break, I caught up with the five-time Cup Series winner. Our conversation touched on a variety of topics that included his lawsuits, his comments about being a scapegoat for other drug users in the sport, NASCAR chairman Brian France and where he goes from here.