Freshrubber Blog

The “he said, they said” routine between Jeremy Mayfield and NASCAR just won’t end. Mayfield insists he did nothing wrong, while NASCAR insists equally that he did. Neither side is bending, although they haven’t quite gotten to the point where either is calling the other a boldface liar (although it seems pretty obvious that someone is not telling the truth in this case). It’s also pretty obvious from his silence about how he plans to defend himself from accusations of having a positive drug test that Mayfield is getting his ducks in a row legally and medically. Frankly, I’m expecting him to file a major lawsuit against NASCAR any day now. — Auto Racing Daily

Jeff Gordon had an injection in his back to help ease the pain he’s had for more than a year, and the four-time NASCAR champion says he’ll be able to drive this weekend in the longest race of the season. Gordon was treated Monday in a procedure that typically calls for an injection of lidocaine or anti-inflammatory medication. Gordon, the Sprint Cup Series points leader, is sore but looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway . “I’ll definitely take that brief bit of soreness if it stops the recurring back pain I’ve had,” he said Tuesday. “I hope that will end the back issues I’ve been having, but it’s too early to tell if that fixed the problem.” Gordon zeroed in on a cause for his aching back last month. An MRI revealed a touch of arthritis and other issues he described as possibly related to “trauma, from a crash, or maybe just from years of beating it up.” Fox Sports