Bees go down fighting.

They sting when threatened by humans. But when they do, their abdomens stick to the skin they’ve pierced and in the process of protecting themselves, they rip their guts out. Who knows if bees realize their defense mechanism will end their lives, but their attack damages everyone involved?

Throughout this whole drug suspension ordeal, Jeremy Mayfield has been acting a little bit like a bee. Instead of flying away to safety, he’s fighting. It’s a fight that’s hurting him as much as anyone.

It seems like Mayfield is beginning to understand that. He’s said he knows his NASCAR career is over. Now he says he’s just fighting for his reputation.

“I’m going to stand up for what’s right,” Mayfield said on Sirius Satellite Radio on Wednesday night. “That’s the way I am and who I am. I’m not going down, I want the world to know that.”

But will the world ever see it Jeremy Mayfield’s way?

It’s not that Mayfield has been proven wrong. It’s that people just don’t believe him anymore.

On Wednesday, NASCAR revealed the results of a July 6 drug test it administered more than two months after the test for which Mayfield got suspended. That test returned positive for methamphetamines, according to court documents.

This is the third time NASCAR has tested one of Mayfield’s samples, and each time the results have been positive for methamphetamines. NASCAR also said in court documents that Mayfield was given the opportunity to take a sealed B sample taken that day to a facility of his choosing for testing, but his lawyers refused. Mayfield says NASCAR is lying.

His tactics to convince everyone he’s clean have gone beyond simply proclaiming his innocence. They have started to make Mayfield look paranoid and a little bit like he’s taking his last desperate stabs at a conspiracy theory.

Mayfield has said this is about NASCAR trying to personally take him down. For what motive exactly, he won’t say.

In a story on ESPN.com, he accused NASCAR of paying his stepmother to lie about his drug use. Lisa Mayfield signed an affidavit saying she witnessed Jeremy Mayfield taking methamphetamines 30 times in the last seven years.

ESPN.com also reported that Jeremy Mayfield said Lisa Mayfield killed his father. His words changed slightly when he spoke to the Associated Press.

“She’s hated me since my dad got killed because I won’t give her any money,” Mayfield said then.

He attacked NASCAR CEO Brian France during his interview on Sirius, saying, “Brian France talking about an effective drug policy is like Al Capone talking about effective law enforcement.”

With each accusation, and inconsistency, his credibility shrinks.

Mayfield has had a camera crew following him around through the entirety of this case. They are filming for a documentary about his life. He says when that film is released, everybody will know the truth.

He said he gets tested every three or four days and that the tests are all negative.

The truth will come out, he keeps saying. But many are starting to wonder why all this proof isn’t out already.

Mayfield keeps stinging, and as he does, the process is ripping apart his credibility.