A judge issued a temporary injunction on Wednesday that lifted Jeremy Mayfield’s drug suspension, saying the NASCAR driver is free to race at Daytona this weekend.

U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen concluded the “likelihood of a false positive in this case is quite substantial.” The decision came after NASCAR’s lawyers portrayed Mayfield as a danger to the sport after he tested positive for methamphetamines on May 1. He was suspended indefinitely eight days later.

Mayfield’s lawyers argued he never used recreational drugs and that NASCAR’s testing system was flawed.

It doesn’t matter if the test was “flawed” or what the likelyhood of a false positive was. This judge has now set precedent so every athlete in every sport can now run to the courts to have their suspensions overturned while the investigation of their possible abuse continues.

This was a really bad thing to do. There are other ways to handle it, and this was definitely not the best way.

In a midseason attempt to add some excitement to Cup racing, NASCAR has moved to double-file restarts beginning with this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway.

“We’ve heard the fans loud and clear,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said Thursday. “Double-file restarts, shootout-style are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans.”

The first- and second-place drivers will line up side-by-side as the green flag drops for each restart. The former restart procedure had lap-down cars on the inside, and the lead-lap cars on the outside for the restarts.

Technically, in another inconsistent move, NASCAR actually listened to the fans. This inconsistency just happened to work out in everyone’s favor this time.

It was May 2007 when reports of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s well-choreographed move to Hendrick Motorsports surfaced. It was April a year ago when Tony Stewart’s intent to buy a team was revealed.

These early-season blockbusters set the NASCAR dominoes in motion, leading to a flurry of driver and sponsor changes that shook up the sport each of the past two years.

But as the 2009 calendar flipped past April and May, team owners and marketers found themselves still shopping for companies to fill out this year’s sponsor lineup, in addition to selling for 2010.

Maybe they should call it the Sober Season this time around.

NASCAR on Tuesday moved Jeremy Mayfield’s challenge of his indefinite suspension to federal court, a move that could keep the driver out of his car another week.

The notification came a day before a North Carolina Superior Court was scheduled to hear arguments pertaining to Mayfield’s suspension for failing a random drug test. NASCAR’s action automatically stayed that proceeding.

…

“Administration of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy extends to every state in which it races, which is why the logical forum is federal court,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

Sorry Jeremy, you still get no sympathy from me. Those drugs are dangerous and you should not be operating a stock car while taking them. Time for you to find a new career.

One of the primary issues Jeremy Mayfield’s attorneys are using to get their suspended client back on the track would not hold up in the National Football League or the Olympics.

Attorney John Buric argued in a Mecklenburg [N.C.] County Court on Friday that Mayfield’s positive test for amphetamines should be thrown out because the second test, a “B” sample, was done at the same laboratory as the “A” sample.

He will argue that again on Wednesday when Mayfield makes his second court appearance asking for a temporary restraining order that would lift the indefinite suspension for violating the substance abuse policy and allow him to drive this weekend at Pocono.

Does it matter? Jeremy Mayfield, and his attorney are not denying that he used the drugs anymore. Now they’re arguing that the samples weren’t tested somewhere else. Oh boo hoo.

Sitting in a stock car, traveling hundreds of miles per hour, is no place to be when you’re on that type of drug. Prescription or otherwise. If Jeremy Mayfield has a condition that requires him to take that medication, he shouldn’t be allowed to endanger the other drivers, the pit crews, or the fans. Period.

Two of NASCAR’s biggest stars offered differing opinions Tuesday on how the sport can control the racing at Talladega Superspeedway.

Three-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson called for a radical transformation of the race track, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. said alterations are not feasible. The two are teammates at Hendrick Motorsports.

Let’s look at a few other examples of “change”.

Accidents occur at an intersection, so authorities place a stoplight at the intersection, reducing the accidents. Does this mean accidents never occur at that intersection ever again? No.

When was the last truly “big” accident at Talladega? I am not talking about “The Big One” which is just a bunch of dummies driving too close to each other in large groups either.

Stop being stupid. Talladega is fine the way it is. If you want to change anything, change driver behavior on the track.

Despite injuries to fans from flying debris, NASCAR’s satisfied with its safety standards, saying the fence at Talladega Superspeedway did what it was supposed to do - keep Carl Edwards’ car out of the grandstands.

In a spectacular last-lap accident, Edwards’ car sailed upside-down into the frontstretch fence, which bowed but held, before the battered vehicle returned to the track. Blake Bobbitt, one of seven injured by debris, remained hospitalized Monday with a broken jaw.

Good on them.

“We’ll race like this until we kill somebody, then [NASCAR] will change it.”

Of course at that point it will be too late for that somebody, but in the meantime at least we’ll get to see a good show, right?

Seven people were injured Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, victims of the spectacular last-lap crash that saw Edwards’ 3,400-pound race car spiraling through the air, then slamming into the catch fence that separated him from fans only a few feet away.

That, not Brad Keselowski winning his first Sprint Cup Series race, is what will be remembered about the Aaron’s 499. Most who were there left the track ecstatic, even if Dale Earnhardt Jr. did wind up second, because they got to see the best race of the season.

Was the wreck scary? Yes.

Was the wreck dangerous to the fans? Yes.

Should they change anything at Talladega because of it? No.

Just because there was a horrific wreck that sent a car into the fence, that doesn’t mean that drastic changes need to be made. The fence held. It did it’s job. No one was seriously injured. Carl Edwards wasn’t injured because of the safety of the Car of Tomorrow.

So all these whiners need to shut up.