NASCAR DEFENDS DRUG-TESTING POLICY

Officials Ask Drivers To Take Active Role

JOLIET, Ill. -- NASCAR believes strongly that its substance-abuse
policy works well and encourages the sport's drivers to take an active
role in its application.

"Our policy is based on reasonable suspicion, and in the agreement ...
it lays out a lot of things to look for that are out of the ordinary,"
said Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communication.
"Anytime (drivers) suspect that someone is abusing, they can come up
to one of our officials, to me, to (John) Darby, to Mike Helton and
we'll investigate.

"I think they have a responsibility to let us know." Several drivers,
Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton among them, called on NASCAR this
weekend to step up its drug testing in response to Truck series driver
Aaron Fike's arrest last weekend on drug charges.

"You have to guard against somebody trying to get someone bounced just
to get rid of the competition," Hunter said.

"We test a lot of people and we just don't talk about it. If you
announce all your tests, you're putting a cloud over whomever you
test, including those who come back clean.

"I respect the opinions of our drivers. However, the drivers don't
know who we test and when we test them."