Jeremy progressed from karts to the street stock division at Kentucky Motor Speedway. His car was impounded due to his many victories (a rule of the division), so he started Late Model racing, occasionally making the trip to run at Nashville. Jeremy painted the signs at the track and even painted numbers on racecars to make ends meet at times.
Jeremy finally moved to Nashville at age 19, where he got a job in the shop at Sadler Racing. Six months into the job, the Sadlers gave Mayfield a Late Model car to race. So in 1987, Jeremy started in the ARCA Series where he finished the season with eight top-five and ten top-ten finishes. Folks in the Cup community began to take notice when Jeremy earned Rookie of the Year honors at Kentucky Motor Speedway. Earl Sadler agreed to back Mayfield in four Cup attempts the following year due to his results and determination. Jeremy made his debut on Oct. 10, 1993, at Charlotte Motor Speedway finishing 10 laps down in 29th position.
Nonetheless, the great Cale Yarborough came calling at the end of the season, and Mayfield made the jump to full time Cup racing with Yarborough in 1995. In an inauspicious rookie season he finished 31st in points with one top-10 finish in 27 starts. In 1996, Mayfield earned a pair of top-five finishes before being released late in the year. Jeremy moved over to race for Michael Kranefuss for two years with limited success before latching on with Penske Racing late in the 2000 season.
In 2001, Ray Evernham picked the charismatic and speedy Jeremy Mayfield to pilot his No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge. Mayfield is currently 10th in the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup with 1 win; 316 points behind leader Kurt Busch.
