Mayfield was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR in May after he failed a random test for drugs at Richmond, but on Wednesday he got a temporary injunction from a federal court in the US, which allows him to race again.
Burton said on Thursday at Daytona that he does not agree entirely with the judge's ruling, because even if it takes some time to get the results of a test, safety for all concerned should be considered above everything else.
In the court filings, judge Graham Mullen stated among the reasons to allow Mayfield an injunction that the financial harm done to the driver by preventing him from racing, far outweighed the potential harm to NASCAR's event safety.
"One thing that I disagree with the judge on is that my safety is important to me and if there's an instant test available then I think the judge's opinion is 100 per cent right," said Burton.
"But there is no instant test available. At the same time, from Jeremy's perspective, if the judge ruled that [the result of the test] can be questioned then it should be questioned and he should have the ability to look into it. If that's what the court's ruled.
"It's a tough situation for anybody to make that decision because he potentially puts my safety in jeopardy with that decision. The other decision potentially puts Jeremy's career in jeopardy so what do you do? That's almost not a right answer."
Burton says that if and when Mayfield is back in Sprint Cup competition, he would like NASCAR to test him as many times as it deems necessary in order to ensure that he is completely clean when he returns to the racetrack.
"If it takes 72 hours, in my world, in this case and nothing against Jeremy, I consider Jeremy a friend of mine, but 72 hours from him being on the racetrack, if that's how long it takes to get a result [from a drug test] then he should be tested," said Burton.
"And 24 hours after that he should be tested again and 24 hours after that it should be tested again and 24 hours after that it should be tested again. I don't consider that harassment.
"The fact of the matter is that he failed a drug test and that opens the door to question. I deserve to 100 per cent know that he is 100 per cent clean and so he should be tested soon enough, early enough, often enough to where he can never be on the racetrack while he is using drugs."
Mayfield was expected to attempt to race this weekend at Daytona, but the 40-year-old was unable to get a drive for Saturday night's event.
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