Carter buys Mayfield’s team

UPDATE Suspended Sprint Cup owner/driver Jeremy Mayfield has sold his hauler and inventory of cars and parts to John Carter, who plans to compete in as many races as he can the rest of the season. Carter said the deal included six cars, including one Terry Labonte ran in Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Labonte has agreed to drive in five races — Indianapolis, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Charlotte — and could drive in more if sponsorship is available. Carter will run the team out of his shop in Tacoa, Ga., and the shop Mayfield rented in the Charlotte, N.C., area. Four of Mayfield's crew members, including crew chief Tony Furr, are now employed by Carter. The deal did not include an opportunity or Mayfield to drive for Carter if cleared. "That wasn't even discussed,'' Carter said. ESPN

07/24/09 Tony Furr, Jeremy Mayfield's long-time crew chief, says that Mayfield has sold his #41 team hauler and cars to Georgia businessman, John Carter, who has been in racing for a while, and Furr says he expected Labonte to run the rest of the season with the team, in as many races as it can make. Furr says the team will continue running out of Mayfield's old shop. Furr is overseeing the operation, and said Friday morning Mayfield may well be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway sometime this weekend. However NASCAR won a legal appeal Friday afternoon in the U.S. 4th circuit court of appeals that should put Mayfield back on suspension. The latest legal move, in NASCAR's favor, would apparently put Mayfield back on suspension, until the court case itself can be resolved. And that case might not get going for several months. “John Carter owns it, bought it from Jeremy," Furr says. "I haven't talked with Jeremy in about a week so I don't know if he'll be here. Terry is going to run the car wherever we run it, and we may run it the rest of the year, don't know yet." Toyota's Joey Arrington is doing the motors; Jeremy Lafave is the crew chief. Furr says he himself "is mainly a consultant." MikeMulhern.net