It ain’t over yet. NASCAR has gone before a Federal Judge seeking to uphold their competition ban of Jeremy Mayfield that was lifted by a lower court judge. With the introduction of this case into federal court, things are starting to get serious.

Mayfield is claiming that he did not test positive for meth, which NASCAR claims that he did, and subsequently they banned him from competiton. Mayfield’s lawyers argue that Mayfield shows none of the signs a meth user would and if he were using the drugs at the level NASCAR claims that he’d be non-functional. They also claim that his positive result was caused by the presence of prescription and over the counter drugs he had been using at the time.

Mayfield, despite having his compeition ban lifted, did not try to run last weekend at Daytona and is not on the early registration list for the upcoming Chicago race. NASCAR’s language has becoming increasingly intense with attorneys calling Mayfield a “threat to public safety” in court yesterday.

At this point one has to wonder whether NASCAR is sticking so hard to their guns on this because they know they are right or because they know that they’d be humiliated beyond belief and their testing program would be seen as a joke if they didn’t.

They can certainly outspend Mayfield, but can they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s guilty of what they claim? So far the answer to that question is no.

Click here for the whole AP story.