Larry Brown Sports

Since his exit from NASCAR in 2009, not much has gone right for former driver Jeremy Mayfield. His list of issues grew on Wednesday when a North Carolina judge awarded a postal carrier $1 million at his expense. The postal worker, Mary Bolton, filed a lawsuit against Mayfield and his wife last June after being attacked by the Mayfields’ dogs on their property in April of 2011.

According to the lawsuit that Sporting News outlined for us, Bolton suffered physical and mental injuries in addition to emotional and psychological anguish. Her attorney says she suffered nerve damage in her left arm after being attacked by the pit bull/labrador mixes and still has trouble gripping and holding things. He also said Bolton has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from the incident.

Mayfield initially offered to pay for Bolton’s medical expenses and told the told the Winston-Salem Journal that he is sorry for what happened, but that his house is far enough away from the street where it has never been an issue.

“I’m far off the road to not get messed with,” Mayfield explained. “My dogs never left that property, yet I’ve got a $1 million judgment against me.”

The judge set the $1 million amount based on medical expenses, lost wages, losing use in her left arm, and emotional distress. Mayfield never contested the suit and, as Sporting News pointed out, he still owes over $2 million for loans, legal fees, surveying fees, and taxes. His property was recently foreclosed on and he is facing 19 criminal felony charges in North Carolina. To summarize, things are not going well for Jeremy Mayfield.

Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Tony Stewart was at his absolute sarcastic best on Sunday after finishing 24th in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Stewart ran out of gas twice and got caught in an eight-car wreck with four laps to go in the race, but he managed to maintain his biting sense of humor.

“We didn’t quite crash half the field which is what we normally look to do here. I was excited about it. I thought it was a pretty good race. I made it further than I thought I would before I got crashed. I call it a successful day,” Stewart joked to reporters.

“Honestly, I think if we haven’t crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we at least crash 50 percent of the cars because it’s not fair to these fans for them to not see any more wrecks than that and more torn-up cars. We still had over half the cars running at the end and it shouldn’t be that way.”

“Like I said if we don’t crash half of the field by the end of the race they really need to extend it because that is what the fans want they want to see that excitement. I feel bad that as drivers we couldn’t do a better job of crashing enough cars for them today … I feel like that is what we are here for. I feel bad if I don’t spend at least 150,000 dollars in torn-up race cars going back to the shop. We definitely have to do a better job with that.”

Stewart dropped to seventh in the points standings after his 24th place finish, but it’s still extremely early in the season. There’s a reason we love Smoke, and this is it. The guy has proven several times over the years that he is not afraid to speak his mind, and we love him for it.

Photo Credit: Marvin Gentry-US PRESSWIRE

Carl Edwards said he wasn’t expecting the unflattering comments about him in begrudged ex-girlfriend Amanda Beard‘s book, but he’s going to take them in stride.

Beard, an Olympic swimmer, dated Edwards from 2005 to 2006 and dedicated 16 blistering pages to her relationship with the NASCAR driver in her memoir released earlier this month, painting Edwards as a controlling and egotistical jerk of a boyfriend. Despite Beard’s harsh portrayal, Edwards said Friday he’s not going to hold anything against his ex.

“I’m not going to bash her or say bad things about her,” Edwards said at Texas Motor Speedway, according to ESPN. “She’s a mother, she’s a wife and someone I cared about.”

Edwards, who’s now married with two children, said he knew Beard was writing a book but didn’t expect to be thrown under the bus like he was.

“I don’t know where to start,” he said, “whether it’s the psychology of feelings about a relationship that doesn’t work out or the strategy to sell book. To be honest, it’s just weird. I don’t know how to address things that I don’t remember happening.

“I didn’t know what to think about it. It was pretty far out of left field for me. It really caught me off guard. It’s sad for me to read that and sad that Amanda was going though all that.”

Well, of course he didn’t know about Beard’s feelings. That was kind of her point.

Photo credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Beard says it was Edwards’ self-centered attitude that led to their inevitable breakup in 2006.

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When asked a question this week about driving at Martinsville Speedway, Carl Edwards suspiciously dropped the words “coxswain” and “nipples” during a rambling answer that barely made any sense. It was such a weird response that you would think he’d be changing his name to Metta World Peace afterward. But Edwards came clean in the end, admitting that saying “coxswain” and “nipples” was part of a bet with his brother. For those whose vocabulary isn’t up to par, a coxswain is somebody who navigates or steers a boat, and nipples are something Ben Stiller can milk.

Anyway, Edwards won $10 and is officially the most immature driver in NASCAR.

H/T From the Marbles

Mark Martin had his Twitter account hacked over the weekend, so he’s returning the favor by taking something from the hacker.

Martin will replace his name with the phrase “Epic Swag” on his No. 55 car for this weekend’s races at Auto Club Speedway. The reason is pretty simple.

When Martin clicked on a malicious link through Twitter, he got locked out of his account, all his tweets were deleted, his settings were changed, and his Twitter name was changed to … epic swag. Martin, who is a rap music fan, is embracing the “epic swag” name.

“Epic Swag stole my name last Saturday so this weekend I’m stealing his,” he laughed. “We’ll run Epic Swag above the driver’s window where my name is usually. What do they say: ‘turnabout is fair play.’”

I think I speak for most people when I say Martin is handling this wonderfully. I certainly think “Epic Swag” is a much better nickname than Viagra Man.

H/T Eye on Nascar

Photo Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

The fiery crash we witnessed at this year’s Daytona 500 was one of the most breathtaking sights in NASCAR history. There have been countless wrecks and blazes over the years, but never has a car slammed into the track jet dryer and caused that type of explosion. The man who was driving the car that slammed into the jet dryer was Juan Pablo Montoya. Naturally, the car was rendered useless after the collision — in racing terms that is. For Dale Earnhardt Jr., the hunk of steel has become the latest addition to a collection of more than 50 cars.

Earnhardt Jr. was given the No. 42 Target car by Montoya’s crew chief Chris Heroy, who worked on Dale’s crew last season.

“He’s a buddy of mine and he gave it to me,” Dale Jr. said. “I got about 50 or 60 cars out there and I didn’t buy any of them. He calls me and I get my property manager, Sonny, to go over there and load it up and bring it over. We get a forklift or a tractor with a forklift or frontend loader and just carry it into the woods and just set it out there somewhere.

“That one’s good. That one ranks right up there. I’ve got the car (Dennis) Setzer flipped when he was driving for Keselowski at Talladega so that was pretty cool, but it ranks right up there. It’s one of the top two or three.”

It looks like more than just the Tide company benefited from the fiery wreck. As cliche as it may sound, one man’s trash truly is another man’s treasure.

If you watched the riveting two-hour delay following the infamous track fire during last week’s Daytona 500, you probably remember NASCAR officials using Tide detergent during the clean-up process. Now, Tide is capitalizing on the exposure with a new commercial that first aired during Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 Sprint Cup race. Pretty smart and timely move on Tide’s part.

The company hasn’t sponsored a car in the Sprint Cup since 2006. Perhaps the people at Tide have been counting on bizarro jet-fuel explosions for product placement on the racetrack.

Kudos, From the Marbles

Danica Patrick was pretty ticked after being wrecked by teammate Cole Whitt during the Nationwide Series race at Daytona Saturday. Patrick reacted like any pissed off person would — she dropped a few f-bombs on her radio.

Danica started on the pole for the race before getting bumped by her teammate and spinning out. She returned to the garage for repairs and finished 38th in the race — a big downer now that she’s racing in the series full-time. Her crew chief Tony Eury Jr. says all is well with the team.

“It’s unfortunate,” Eury said. “He got into her at the wrong place, and that’s the way it happens. It’s no big deal. Her and Cole can talk about it. It’s no hard feelings. We’re all a team here.”

Danica also crashed in the final lap of qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Thursday. There were no audible f-bombs in that crash, but we have video in case you’re interested.

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Danica Patrick likes to drive. With that in mind, auto racing was probably an appropriate career choice. However, she is also a practical person. Like any other NASCAR driver, she has had several toys over the course of her career. Among them is a silver 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo — one that she rarely drives. The thing has no cup holders and she’s a coffee drinker. Can you blame her?

“I just needed something more practical,” Patrick said according to Yahoo! Sports. “It sounds stupid but there are no cup holders in my Lamborghini. So what’s a girl to do?”

Holding a hot cup of coffee in your hand is too dangerous. The lack of cup holders isn’t the only issue, however. The car also has very limited trunk space. What a piece of crap this thing must be.

“The last straw was probably having to pick up my sister at the airport in a Lamborghini,” she added. “I couldn’t have felt more stupid. I’m serious. I felt so stupid. She’s got bags. I don’t have a trunk. I’ve got a briefcase-sized spot in the front of the car. I have no space.”

Sometimes speed isn’t everything. Believe it or not, NASCAR drivers need cargo space and cup holders too. Here’s hoping Danica finds a car that will improve her quality of life.