Ryan Newman questions NASCAR time frame on drug-testing policy
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Ryan Newman supports NASCAR’s new drug-testing policy for 2009 but says he was surprised that the sanctioning body so clearly defined a designated time frame for the tests.
“I might be opening up a can of worms when I say this, but why would you announce you’re going to have a drug-testing time?” Newman said during the Stewart-Haas Racing portion of the Sprint Media Tour hosted by Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I mean the whole idea of announcing it kind of takes away from the people that know how to cheat the system.
“Obviously, I know there’s probably going to be some follow-ups with certain people ... but it just seems to me that you’re only eliminating the really, really naïve people in the first testing or in the first screening like this.”
Under its new policy, NASCAR is for the first time requiring all drivers and crewmen pass a test before the season and instituting random tests every race weekend. The policy also continues procedures for testing at any time on reasonable suspicion.
NASCAR can test any driver or crew member at any time, including away from the track, without notice.
The sanctioning body issued a memo to teams in December, requiring they submit drug-testing results from all crew members, spotters and race-day support personnel, including engineers, engine tuners, shock specialists, chassis specialists and tire specialists, by Jan. 16.
NASCAR was to oversee drug testing for all drivers beginning the week of Jan. 20.
The tests were conducted by a laboratory certified by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
While the new policy cites 38 drugs and thresholds for those drugs in the crewmen tests, it doesn’t cite similar specifics for drivers, but Newman doesn’t see that as a problem - especially for him.
“We discussed some of those things [with NASCAR] and how reliable the tests are, what you can get in trouble for,” he said. “Is codeine going to sound the alarm? Is just over-the-counter medicines, if you take too much because you’re ill, does that affect things? I never really heard the answers to that, but I know in my case that I never really take enough medicine, and I don’t take any drugs to have to worry about these situations.”
But Newman thinks that the sanctioning body has taken a positive step.
“I’m glad NASCAR’s doing something,” he said. “I think it’s important for the driver’s standpoint and for the fans’ standpoint and, most importantly, for all the kids out there to know that NASCAR is drug-free.”
