Charlotte, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR accused Jeremy
Mayfield of lying to a federal court about the chronology of a second
random drug test, offering to provide an audio tape of the conversation
in which Mayfield was told to submit a sample. The driver says the
telephone call went to voicemail.
The
accusation came Monday in court filings that ask U.S. District Court
Judge Graham Mullen to lift the July 1 injunction he granted Mayfield
so he could return to racing.
NASCAR disputed
the sworn testimony Mayfield provided to U.S. District Court last week,
including the assertion that a July 6 request for a second drug test
went to his voicemail at 1:18 p.m. He said he didn't get the message
until about 40 minutes later, making it difficult for him to meet the
two-hour deadline to report for testing.
NASCAR
provided a transcript of the actual conversation between Mayfield and
Regina Sweeney, an employee of Aegis Sciences Corp., which runs
NASCAR's drug-testing program. NASCAR said it would provide the
recording upon request.
"I'm calling on
behalf of NASCAR who has requested that you take a drug test today
within the next two hours ... and I was going to help find you a
location that you could go to based upon where you are right now,"
Sweeney said in the transcript.
"Right, well
I'm gonna have to - let me talk to my attorney first. ... So, and I'll
get back with you," Mayfield is quoted as replying.
According
to Mayfield's affidavit from last week, he was in a meeting and did not
receive the message until 2 p.m. and it was 2:44 p.m. when he was
finally told what labortatory to go to - making it impossible for him
to meet the testing deadline.
"Mayfield
appears to have completely "forgotten" that he had a live conversation
with Ms. Sweeney ... in which she advised him he could go to a testing
place ... the address of which Mayfield did not take down because he
wanted to talk to his attorney first," the filing said.
NASCAR
also accused Mayfield of lying when he told the court he was instructed
to return to his home at 5 p.m., where he waited almost three hours for
NASCAR representatives to collect a sample.
"This
account is contradicted by Mayfield's counsel, who claimed that at 5:32
p.m., Mayfield was still driving around Concord, looking for the
testing location," the filing said. NASCAR submitted e-mail exchanges
between Mayfield attorney John Buric and its counsel to contradict
Mayfield's claims.
Buric did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mayfield
was suspended May 9 for failing a random drug test taken eight days
earlier for what NASCAR has said was a positive test for
methamphetamines. The driver sued, and Mullen lifted the suspension
based on the argument that NASCAR's testing system is flawed.
NASCAR
has asked Mullen to reverse the injunction based on new evidence - the
failed July 6 test, and sworn testimony from Mayfield's estranged
stepmother that she witnessed him using meth at least 30 times over the
years.
An appeals court last week issued a
ruling that put Mayfield back under suspension, but the request to
reverse the injunction is one of the unresolved legal challenges before
Mullen.
NASCAR's filing Monday also contends
that in addition to the eyewitness account from Lisa Mayfield, it has
several other witnesses willing to testify about Mayfield's
methamphetamine use if subpoenaed.
"Mayfield
has apparently contacted at least one witness to convince the witness
that despite her recollection, he never used drugs," the filing said.