Well, we’re starting to move on from the whole Jeremy Mayfield saga a bit. We’ve cycled through the five stages of the Kübler-Ross Model, we’re at acceptance and now we’re thinking about what will happen to the 41 car. From what is left of Mayfield Motorsports, they are saying that they plan to soldier on. But with Mayfield suspended as both a driver and an owner, they need to find a replacement for both to be able to continue…and they need to find one soon.

Owner Replacement

One name pops to mind immediately and that’s Gary Smith, who is already a co-owner of Mayfield Motorsports. He’s the CEO of Big Red, Inc. which produces Big Red soda and All Sport and they’ve basically been the primary sponsor of the team throughout the season already. Smith’s already bankrolling this effort, so putting his name as the primary would make the most sense.

The only other name I could envision could be Shana Mayfield, Jeremy’s wife, and I could only see her in that role if they needed to keep a partnership arrangement that would imply that Jeremy would be back in that 50% ownership role in the near future. It’s an option, but without knowing the specifics of the partnership arrangement that composes Mayfield Motorsports, I consider it to be less likely.

Driver Replacement

Which brings us to what everyone really wants to know about. Lee Spencer actually reported earlier today (the story has since been yanked) that crew chief Tony Furr had said that J.J. Yeley had been named as the new driver of the 41. And while that’s a remarkable intersection of stories we’ve been following lately, a subsequent statement said that no decision has been made yet, but that Yeley was merely on the short list of drivers.

But the bottom line is, despite what you may think, that list really is short. You need someone who’s currently available, not under contract anywhere and has enough experience to be able to go out there and qualify for races. (No one is seriously thinking that a replacement driver will go out and contend, but getting into the races is key.) I can think of four names that I think would be serious candidates and that’s it.

J.J. Yeley - I mean, obviously we know they’re considering him—they’ve said as much. Yeley hasn’t had a ride in Cup since he was punted by Hall of Fame Racing last year. But before then, when he was at JGR, he qualified fairly well, averaging in the high 20s. Equipment here will be a step down, but he could still do it.

Ken Schrader - In the sad, sad game of silly season musical chairs, Ken Schrader was the one left without a seat last season. Yes, he’s keeping busy with his race team doing ARCA and Camping World East, or calling World of Outlaws races, he’ll even be at the Prelude to the Dream, but it’s gotta nag him leaving Cup Series like that. This could be his one last chance to run in Cup again.

Mike Bliss - Possibly. It would all depend on the rotation for the 09 car over at Phoenix Racing, which he is in part-time. That alone may sink his chances.

Mike Skinner - Seriously, if you need a guy for a few races at the Cup level, Mike Skinner is always available to do that for you. He hasn’t run even 30 races since 2004, but he’s filled in gaps for Richard Childress, Bill Davis, Bob Jenkins, Michael Waltrip and Red Bull Racing among others. He could step in with no problem.

All four of these drivers would basically be available now, and all four could start this weekend at the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte, which would keep that team moving.

Now, you may be wondering where Aric Almirola and Travis Kvapil are, but I don’t think they’re serious candidates for this gig. They are both still under contract with their respective teams and, let’s face it, moving to a generally-uncompetitive team for a temporary situation just to get racing again is not going to do much for your racing career. Even if they were offered the gig, if I were them, I’d politely decline.

But we’ll see. Decisions will be made on these matters very quickly, because they’ll still want to get a car into the Sprint Showdown this weekend if they can.

UPDATE: Jayski is also floating the idea of either Todd Bodine or Mike Wallace being the replacement driver. Todd Bodine isn’t going to happen because he’s driving for Gunselman and will likely be trying to make the Sprint Showdown field with them. But Mike Wallace could conceivably be a possibility, albeit not a great one. He attempted to qualify for Daytona with TRG Motorsports in what is now David Gilliland’s ride and has made Cup efforts off and on the past few years. But right now, he has no permanent ride at any level of NASCAR since Geico and Germain kind of bailed on him last year to go to Cup, even though he wasn’t having a terrible season.

Tags: Aric Almirola, Bill Davis Racing, David Gilliland, Daytona International Raceway, Front Row Motorsports, Gary Smith, Germain Racing, Hall of Fame Racing, J.J. Yeley, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Gibbs Racing, Ken Schrader, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Mayfield Motorsports, Michael Waltrip Racing, Mike Bliss, Mike Skinner, Mike Wallace, Phoenix Racing, Red Bull Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Todd Bodine, Travis Kvapil, TRG Motorsports

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 4:53 pm and is filed under NASCAR News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.