NASCAR to random drug test in 2009

Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's vice president of race operations announced on Saturday at Dover International Speedway significant changes to their substance abuse policy, which will be incorporated fully from the start of the 2009 season.

When Speedweeks testing starts in preparation for the Daytona 500 next year, all drivers will have to submit a test, plus the teams will also have to implement their own test for all licensed personnel.

AEGIS Sciences Corporation, which is the largest independent sports and forensic testing laboratory in the United States, will support NASCAR in implementing the policy.

"Beginning with the 2009 season, we're going to institute a baseline test that will take place for the drivers in Daytona during pre-season testing," O'Donnell said. "Every driver who attends the testing session will be required to submit to a substance abuse test.

"All those tests will be administered by an outside agency, which is AEGIS, who will be on-site throughout the testing session. We're also going to institute a mandatory test from the owners to all of their licensed crew members."

However, the most crucial change to NASCAR's current policy is the implementation of random tests for all three National series. These tests will not only be for drivers, but also for pit crew members and event NASCAR officials.

Up until now, only a limited number of tests have been carried out, all of them based on reasonable suspicion.

"We're going to institute random testing that will begin, again, starting in 2009," O'Donnell added. "People that will be subjected to random tests are all NASCAR Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series drivers. All over-the-wall pit crew members and, again, NASCAR officials will all be part of that program.

"The way the program will work is you can probably expect it to be at most if not all events."

NASCAR's policy is different to that of other professional sports in the United States in that it doesn't have a list of banned substances. However, O'Donnell believes that allows them to act on any kind of abuse that they consider as a contravention to their policy's principles.

"We think we have the broadest policy in all of sports," said O'Donnell. "The reason we don't have a list is we believe that a list is restrictive. If you've seen with a lot of other leagues, the policy is constantly changing.

"We know that there's new drugs out there every day. By having a broad policy that doesn't list anything, we feel like we can test for any substance that may be abused, no different than our policy is today."

Substances that NASCAR could test for abuse include narcotics, beta blockers and steroids.

Today's announcement comes in the wake of revelations made by Craftsman Truck series champion Ron Hornaday, who last week admitted taking prescribed testosterone between 2004 and 2006, while competing in the series.

NASCAR cleared Hornaday after confirming he had used the substance as part of a treatment for an illness he was suffering at the time.