If a fan asks, ‘What’s happening in NASCAR nowadays?’ one might answer that a series of leaked text messages from NASCAR executives is surfacing amid the ongoing lawsuit. But these leaked text messages are not just mere messages. They seem to pull back the curtain on how NASCAR executives look at teams and drivers and call them obstacles to the sport’s control. Now these leaks are stirring old wounds, making fans question if these executives have always played the sport behind the scenes.

Fans link these leaked texts to a suspension that came 16 years ago, which ended a promising Cup career, leaving whispers of foul play that never fully faded. The texts echo a pattern of silencing voices that challenge the status quo. And as suspicions mount, one tale from the track cuts deepest.

Jeremy Mayfield, who notched five Cup wins since 1993, faced an indefinite suspension in 2009. On May 9, NASCAR blamed him for a positive methamphetamine test after a random check at Richmond, ending his run as owner-driver of the No. 41 Toyota. He claimed the result came from mixing prescribed Adderall for ADHD with over-the-counter Claritin D.

After his claim was found true, courts briefly lifted the ban in July, only for a home retest to flag him positive again. And the second test result finally sealed his racing career despite expert doubts about false positives. Mayfield captured that sting recently after the series of leaked texts.

“Challenge them and you’re the enemy. Question them and you get crushed. Build something without them, and you’re a target. Stop serving their agenda, and suddenly you’re just another ‘stupid redneck.’ This is who they are and who they’ve always been behind closed doors. People call it shocking. It’s not. And now their own words are doing what they tried to do to everyone else: BURYING them,

These words from the 56-year-old came right after a leaked text from 2023 from Steve Phelps, NASCAR commissioner, surfaced, where he wrote, “Childress needs to be taken out back and flogged. He’s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.”

The Jeremy incident mirrors Tim Richmond, banned in 1988 for a “positive” test on over-the-counter meds like Sudafed and Advil, right as AIDS weakened him. His mother, Evelyn Richmond, slammed the whole testing process in an interview.

“Tim demanded to be tested because of the rumor. They took him into a trailer and had him urinate over a 55-gallon drum into a bottle with some of the NASCAR officials standing there watching. That was humiliating.”

This raw account from a 1990 family interview paints a picture of degradation aimed at breaking him. Richmond, who won 13 Cup Series races and a 1986 Driver of the Year title, sued NASCAR in 1988 for the test results. NASCAR eventually conceded the initial result was a “bad test.”

Richmond, who was suffering from AIDS complications at the time, lost the lawsuit, withdrew from racing, and passed away in 1989. It mirrors Mayfield’s courtroom battles and lost rides, hinting at a pattern of tests twisted to target threats.

Mayfield doubled down on executives who were bashing Richard Childress: “Phelps & Steve O dissing RC isn’t just out of line, it shows exactly how far this sport has drifted from who built it. RC didn’t need NASCAR to become who he is, but they damn sure needed him.”

Childress, with six titles via Dale Earnhardt since ’69, helped the sport become a household name in the USA, but still got humiliated in texts.

These blasts from the past have fans buzzing louder than cheering for their favorite driver.

Fans’ voices from the stands

Sarcasm cuts sharply in the garage talk, with one fan quipping, “Well, if there’s one source I trust, it’s Jeremy Methfield.” It nods to the 2009 incident that tagged Jeremy as a methamphetamine user. That raid on his home in 2011, where investigators uncovered stolen gear, 1.5 grams of methamphetamine, and about 40 firearms, only deepened the ‘bad guy’ tag. But now the supporters see it all as a conspiracy against Mayfield to kick him out of the sport.

Amid the digs, real talk bubbles up: “He’s going to be very loud in his opinions. Honestly, he should be.” Mayfield’s fire fits a guy who won the Grand National Super Series title in 2025 with nine victories in vintage rides, proving he’s no quitter. It echoes his mic magic, like post-race chats that lit up airwaves, a spark missing in today’s polished pits.

“Man, I miss this ‘stupid redneck’… He drove clean, was easy on the equipment, and was never erratic,” another user wrote. Picture Jeremy Pocono’s duel with Earnhardt Sr., a clean slide that astounded the crowds in the 2000s. Folks assumed he’d thrive best in the Truck Series after his Cup Series ended, but the ban boned him, leaving a void in personalities that once packed stands.

Digging deeper, speculation runs wild: “My guess has always been that he was doing Adderall or Ritalin without a prescription and didn’t know that they would show up under the same category as meth.” This comment ties right to his defense, as doctors also stated that the combo caused the methamphetamine flag, yet NASCAR’s Dr. Black didn’t accept it.

Another comment ties to bigger fixes: “Yeah, the Jeremy Mayfield, 2015 California, and others aren’t conspiracies—Kurt Busch was in some hot legal water, and NASCAR threw some questionable cautions to get him out of the lead.” Recall Kurt Busch‘s wild legal mess in 2014 involving his former girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll. Because Busch was facing the allegation, NASCAR didn’t let him race. Fans smell the same hand steering fates, from Mayfield’s lab woes to those yellow flags that flipped the script.