Mayfield banking on returns from Ganassi

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Last weekend was simply an audition for Jeremy Mayfield. It was as if Mayfield were sitting in a hallway outside a rehearsal studio, then a woman popped her head out and said, "Mr. Mayfield? You're next."After experiencing more than a few bad breakups with owners -- everyone's had his share, right? -- the 39-year-old NASCAR driver Mayfield strapped into owner Chip Ganassi's Target-sponsored Dodge at Dover and did what had to be done: Get the Charger in the field and put in a decent run.With the team outside the top 35 in points, the No. 40 faced the possibility of packing up on Friday and going home after qualifying, but Mayfield started 10th. His 25th-place finish in the race was nothing exceptional, but the team was just happy to be in Dover and working on Sunday.A hired gun in his temporary status with the team, Mayfield naturally wanted and expected more -- and he put the pressure on himself."People don't realize that for me personally it is a great opportunity," Mayfield said. "I'll look back at this one day and say that this is probably the biggest opportunity of a lifetime for me, probably in my career. I just think that this is something that is going to help me in the future just by them taking a chance on me for one race."That sounds like a driver intent on staying around for a while, but the opportunity he keeps referring to is over because his tenure with Ganassi was a one-race deal. And the driver he replaced is back.Dario Franchitti, who broke his leg in a Talladega wreck, has been a disappointment in his rookie Cup campaign but returns at Pocono this weekend. Yet word around the garage is that the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion might not be back after this season.So who better than Mayfield to climb into the No. 40 full time?It's interesting that Mayfield is getting some attention over the past week because this weekend is the eighth anniversary of one of his two notable wins. The other, of course, was in September of 2004 at Richmond, where he entered 14th in points, then was victorious and moved to ninth to make the Chase.His dominant Richmond performance was a classic. In fact, in the years after, when drivers have stepped it up and drove their way into the Chase in the last race or two before the championship playoff, their efforts have been called "pulling a Mayfield."But the Owensboro, Ky., native wowed them at Pocono eight years ago, and he earned a salute from one of NASCAR's greats.Racing down that bizarre backstretch, running second to a familiar black Chevrolet, Mayfield bumped aside the lead car in Turn 2, the treacherous, high-speed tunnel turn, on the race's 200th and final lap. On the cool-down lap, the other driver pulled beside Mayfield and saluted him in one-fingered fashion.In reality, what had happened that day -- my only time covering a Pocono race -- was that Mayfield had dared Dale Earnhardt and won. He had out-Earnhardted Earnhardt, the master of the bump-and-run.Mayfield's also been in the Chase twice, won five races and nine poles and was a driver who was a consistent contender for a few seasons, which is something not many available drivers who have any career left boast on their resume.That's the Jeremy Mayfield that Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates need to sign for the rest of 2008 when the Franchitti Experiment finally flops for good. (Bill Whitehead covers NASCAR for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail wwhitehe@ircc.net.)