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[/media-credit]Tuesday night NASCAR announced that driver AJ Allmendinger has been suspended indefinitely after his “B” sample also came back positive. The drug involved is still unknown.
In order for NASCAR to reinstate Allmendinger, he must meet with a substance abuse professional to determine how long he will be in the rehabilitation program if needed. The reinstatement could be up to three months depending on the drug and if he completes the program.
“Penske Racing is very disappointed with the result of the B sample test and will evaluate its course of action as it pertains to AJ over the coming week,” the team said.
Tara Ragan, AJ’s business manager, would not state the drug involved but did say that the banned stimulant tested just above the threshold for both samples.
“This was not the news we wanted to hear and we will work to get to the source of what may have caused this. To that end, we have secured the services of an independent lab to conduct thorough testing on every product within AJ’s home and motor coach to find out what might collaborate with his test, which created results that were within nanograms of accepted standards,” Ragan said. “We are working closely with NASCAR and Penske Racing to identify the next action steps in this process.”
Allmendinger was suspended temporarily hours before the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway after his random drug test, that was taken June 29th at Kentucky, came back positive. Shortly afterwards, he hired a toxicologist and asked for another sample to be tested. The reasoning behind the results of the B samples are rarely different from the original, is because it is the same as the original test but its for the drug involved specifically.
The policy lists over 100 drugs that have been banned and says that a mixture of any drug that could possibly impair a driver could be a violation of the policy. The stimulants defined by NASCAR are “amphetamines, methamphetamines, Ecstasy (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), MDA, PMA, Phentermine, and other amphetamine derivatives and related compounds.”
