France Says NASCAR's Drug Policy Is Most Stringent In Sports
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France Says NASCAR Has Most Stringent
Substance Abuse Policy In Sports |
NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France prior to Saturday’s Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix Int’l Raceway reiterated the league’s position that it has the “most stringent substance abuse policy in sports because it is based on being able to test frequently for any reasonable suspicion,” according to Bob Pockrass of NASCAR SCENE. France: “We have the most aggressive policy in sports. We can test anytime, anyplace. It’s better than random testing because we can do it on a more frequent basis. Then the punishments, should anything happen, are more severe than anything in sports. It’s a game-changer for somebody’s career” (SCENEDAILY.com, 4/13). NASCAR President Mike Helton said the reaction by drivers to an ESPN The Magazine report that former driver Aaron Fike “used heroin the same day he drove in some races is a positive sign” for the sport. Helton: “When you have a headline like that and the other athletes rare up on it and react like they did, that’s a positive thing. … That’s why we think that the reasonable suspicion policy works as an umbrella from a NASCAR perspective” (NASCAR.com, 4/13).
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Earnhardt Jr. Feels Media Coverage
Could Eventually Bring Policy Change |
POLICY CHANGE? Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. “believes coverage of NASCAR’s drug testing policy by the media might be what ultimately brings changes.” Earnhardt said NASCAR “always sort of had that style of management if you will. Once a complaint gets loud enough, they sort of take reaction to it. I wouldn’t have a problem with random drug testing if it’s important to the integrity of the sport” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/12). Pockrass, in a special to SPORTINGNEWS.com, wrote NASCAR “shouldn’t be coaxed into changing its policy because one driver claims to have used heroin on race day. Instead, NASCAR needs to be convinced that it must change the policy because there’s reasonable suspicion that anyone who drives on the national level has access to drugs if they want them, and the pressure they face makes drugs a convenient outlet. Combine that with a skeptical fan base questioning the integrity of the sport, and the only way to know if everyone is clean is to make them” submit to drug testing (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 4/11). ESPN’s Angelique Chengelis said NASCAR “will explore some different options in terms of mandatory drug testing because that’s what the drivers said they want.” Chengelis: “I think it‘s going to be a very slow process for change” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 4/12).
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