NASCAR teams can expect more drug testing, France warns

JIM UTTER

The Charlotte Observer

Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008

FONTANA, Calif. - NASCAR's chairman on Sunday said the sanctioning body was a few weeks away from announcing changes in its policy on illegal drugs, which he said will include more testing.

Current policy in NASCAR calls for testing when there is "reasonable suspicion" someone is using banned substances.

NASCAR officials have approached several teams in recent weeks, using them as sounding boards on ideas for the new policy. A form of random testing is expected, members of several team sources have confirmed.

"We're going to expand the scope of the policy," NASCAR's Brian France said. "That's where we are today. We have a very good policy," he said.

"We will be looking at broadening testing, even though we have a lot of latitude today. We're going to broaden it. The circumstances around all of sports have changed in the past three, four or five years. We need to be mindful of that."

France said he would not go into details on the policy changes other than to say it would be more comprehensive and entail more testing.

Any changes would likely not take effect until the 2009 season.

NASCAR came under scrutiny after a public admission by former Truck series driver Aaron Fike, in an interview with ESPN The Magazine, that he had used heroin, even on days he raced.

Several Cup series drivers, including Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, have called on NASCAR to add random testing to help prevent such incidents.

After his arrest in Ohio on drug charges, Fike was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR and has not applied for reinstatement with the sanctioning body.

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