Harvick calls for rigid drug policy in NASCAR

JOLIET, Ill. - Kevin Harvick favors a tough, no-holds-barred testing policy when it comes to substance abuse in racing.

The Richard Childress Racing driver was asked how upsetting it was when a young driver was charged with a drug-related crime, such as Aaron Fike, the Craftsman Truck Series driver who was arrested and charged with drug paraphernalia and possession of a substance believed to be heroin in his personal vehicle last weekend and subsequently suspended by NASCAR.

"I believe every driver and every national series should be drug tested a couple times a year randomly regardless of who you are, what you're doing," he said Friday morning at Chicagoland Speedway. "I think we owe it to the sponsors and the fans to 100 percent know that this is a clean environment. It would eliminate a lot of those problems of the younger guys that disrespect the sport and the system.

"Shame on NASCAR for not policing our garage better than what they police it right now. I think we're all professional athletes and should be treated like professional athletes in other professional sports, and shame on them for not doing that."

While Harvick doesn't think drugs are a major problem in the sport - Shane Hmiel and Kevin Grubb have been suspended for violating the sport's substance abuse policy in recent years - he thinks a testing policy would remove all doubt about the issue. It would go a step further than the random testing policy that NASCAR currently embraces.

"I don't think it's necessarily a problem, but I think there would be zero speculation, and speculation is something that I believe is not something that should drive anything in our garage," he said. "I don't believe we have a huge problem, but it's still the black eye of the one or two guys that do have a problem. That just kind of frustrates me a little bit."

The tougher policy would ensure that everyone on the track was in good condition to be there at all times. Again, Harvick doesn't consider that to be a problem - but it is something he should not have to waste his time either thinking about or discussing in media interviews.

While Harvick thinks that anyone caught under the substance-abuse policy should be allowed time to recover and then return to the sport, he doesn't want the sport to have to contend with questions about the policy or the athletes.

"That's why there shouldn't be a speculation. There should be a couple times a year everybody should be on guard all the time, and for those of us who have no interest in even really looking to find a party scene or anything like that, I just think it would be good for the sport if they just cleared the air and there was never any speculation about it whatsoever," he said.

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Kevin Harvick