NASCAR wants to dismiss Mayfield countersuit to speed up appeal

NASCAR wants to dismiss its breach-of-contract and fraud claims against Jeremy Mayfield to help speed up the appeal in Mayfield's lawsuit against the sanctioning body over a May 1, 2009, drug test that NASCAR says was positive for methamphetamines. A U.S. District Court judge in Charlotte ruled in May that Mayfield, who has said he did not use methamphetamines, did not have a case against NASCAR and ruled in favor of NASCAR without the case going to trial. Mayfield has been unable to appeal that decision because NASCAR's countersuit – which alleges that by racing while violating the substance-abuse policy, Mayfield breached the contract he signed to compete in NASCAR – is still pending with a trial scheduled for July 2011. NASCAR had asked the court Sept. 10 to suspend the proceedings in its countersuit so an appeals court can rule on the decision to dismiss Mayfield's allegations. But, according to court documents filed by NASCAR on Thursday, Mayfield plans to oppose the suspension of NASCAR's countersuit and Mayfield has asked for a variety of documents and depositions to gather information to support its request. NASCAR has now decided to dismiss its countersuit against Mayfield in order to move the appeals process forward and to avoid additional interrogations and document production. Scene Daily