Mayfield confident for Rockingham

Dick Brinster

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

Now that the big show is over, the "real season" is starting for Jeremy Mayfield.

It's not that Mayfield has trouble reading a calendar. He simply believes the Winston Cup season is divided into two segments: the Daytona 500, and the other 33 races.

"The hoopla of the Daytona 500 ... can take a toll on you," Mayfield said. "The season sort of starts with Rockingham."

The 29-year-old Kentuckian, 20th at Daytona because of a tire problem, says the 500 must be forgotten. Even drivers who do well in The Great American Race can be caught looking back when NASCAR's best move to North Carolina.

"Every year you see guys who have a great Daytona 500, and then you couldn't find them on a milk carton the rest of the season," Mayfield said. "They put everything they have into that one race."

He avoided that pitfall a year ago - even after finishing a stunning third at Daytona International Speedway. Nothing has changed.

"No, Rockingham isn't the Daytona 500, but they still give you the exact number of points to win it," he said. "That means this is just as important."

Mayfield, who for all but the final eight laps of the Daytona 500 seemed poised for another top-five finish, considers himself a contender Sunday in the Dura-Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway.

"We had a really good test at Rockingham a couple of weeks ago," he said. "A year ago, we had a great car for this race, but I think the one we tested was even better."

Crew chief Paul Andrews likes Mayfield's attitude.

"We aren't dwelling on Daytona, but just moving forward," he said "If we sit there and think about the 'What ifs' of Daytona, then it will be really easy to make Rockingham a 'What-if?' track, too."

Mayfield's optimism about the season is justified. He won for the first time last year, and was the surprise leader in points for four weeks. He wound up a career-best seventh in the standings.

Mayfield had one of the fastest cars last February in the Rockingham race. He led as late as the 326th of 393 laps after starting fifth on the 1.017-mile tri-oval. But he was clipped from behind in a wreck and wound up 14th.

In the fall race, he started sixth, but wound up 29th. That convinced him that his first-race setup was better.

"We're going back to the same car as a year ago," he said. "We felt we could have won this race last year."

That belief still exists, but Mayfield is now confident on all tracks, not just on the long superspeedways, where he feels especially comfortable.

"I can't think of a race this year where I feel we'll be struggling some," he said. "We should go every week feeling we have a good shot at winning."

But Mayfield doesn't cross the line from confidence to cockiness despite the knowledge that his Ford is one of the faster cars on the circuit. He understands it's a business of highs and lows.

"I'm not sitting here predicting we'll win these last 33 races, but we'll be capable of doing it," he said. "Week in and week out, we're going to be pretty good."

He hopes that translates into several victories - the natural progression of a driver who flirted with success in 1997 before enjoying it last year.

"In 1997, we got to the door," he said. "Last year, we knocked on it. This year, we're looking to kick that son of a gun down."