NASCAR does not anticipate suspending any drivers who took their preseason drug tests last week in North Carolina, sanctioning body spokesman Ramsey Poston said.”We are proud of how the process worked so far,” Poston said in a statement.”All drivers, crew members and officials will have passed the substance-abuse test going into the season.” Drivers in NASCARs three national series must pass a drug test during the preseason, and most drivers took their test last week at the NASCAR Research and Development Center. This is the first season that NASCAR is requiring its drivers to pass a preseason drug test. Its previous policy allowed NASCAR to test at any time for reasonable suspicion “ which is still the policy today “ but did not require the passing of a preseason test. Teams had to submit crew rosters and list those who had passed a drug test in order to have them licensed to work on the cars.”We will continue to randomly test throughout the season,” Poston said,”and our reasonable suspicion remains in place, making NASCARs substance abuse policy one of the most comprehensive in sports.”(SceneDaily)(1-31-2009)
UPDATE: All drivers in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Nationwide Truck Series passed the first round of drug testing under NASCAR’s new policy, officials said on Thursday, but that wasn’t the case for crew members.
