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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeremy Mayfield never made it to Daytona International Speedway this weekend after winning an injunction to begin competing again, but he said in a statement he hopes to be at Chicagoland Speedway for next week's race.

"Following Judge (Graham) Mullen's ruling, we had less than 24 hours to prepare the car, assemble a team, get sponsorship and travel to Daytona," Mayfield said in the statement. "Ultimately, we were unable to get this done in time.

"We've decided that our time is best spent back here in North Carolina working around the clock to try and secure the funding needed to get the 41 car to Chicago and beyond. (Wife) Shana and I, as well as everyone at Mayfield Motorsports, will do everything in our power to race next weekend."

NASCAR indefinitely suspended Mayfield on May 9 after he tested positive for methamphetamine. Mayfield sued NASCAR. He and his attorneys are challenging the testing procedure, and Mayfield claims he's never taken methamphetamine.

On Wednesday, a federal judge granted an injunction, giving Mayfield the chance to compete again.

Mayfield stated in an affidavit that the suspension has cost him his sponsor and that other potential sponsors are not interested in his team. That forced him to lay off 10 employees and note that he and his wife have had to borrow money.

EXAMINING OPTIONS: Dale Earnhardt Jr. said moving his Nationwide team, JR Motorsports, to the Cup series for next year won't be easy should the decision be made to do it.

"Going into the Cup series is going to be quite a challenge for anybody to find the kind of financial support you need," he said.

"We have to look at what our chances are and secure the funding to move to the (Cup) series before we can actually put that in front of Brad (Keselowski). We've got to know whether we've got that kind of money to do it."

PETTY HONORED: Richard Petty was honored on the 25th anniversary of his 200th and final career Cup ride Saturday.

All the drivers posed for a photo with Petty before the race. Three-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson presented Petty a replica of Petty's helmet from that race with all the starters in the race signing it. Petty also got into a replica of the car he drove to that win 25 years ago to lead the field on a parade lap.

LARGER TIRE YEARS AWAY: Goodyear has a prototype of a larger right-side tire that could be used in the Cup series and is working on a left-side tire while maintaining hope that a Cup team can test the tire this fall.

Stu Grant, general manager of Global Race Tires, does not expect the larger tire to be used in the Cup series before the 2012 season, though, noting all the work that remains and how tire-making equipment at the company's Akron facility would have to be changed. Grant says the tire is 1 inch taller and 1.5 inches wider.

RIDIN' AROUND: Dale Earnhardt's daughter, Taylor, drove her father's famous No. 3 car during this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.

Earnhardt's car is among a group of stock cars there in honor of Daytona International Speedway's 50th anniversary. Others from NASCAR include Landon Cassill, who is driving a 1997 Hendrick car, Mike Skinner, who will drive a Red Bull car, and Rusty Wallace, who will drive one of his cars from his final season.

PIT STOPS: Kyle Busch and Scott Speed drove to a 10th-place finish in Saturday afternoon's Grand-Am race at Daytona.

The Associated Press reported that Busch received an IV after his driving stint as a precautionary measure. &ellipses; Braun Racing announced that sponsor Great Clips will return to the Nationwide team for the next three seasons.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or at dustin.long@ news-record.com