Fans Reveal the Dark Side of Motorsports and Discuss NASCAR’s “Drugs Era”

The first few lines of NASCAR’s drug policy read, “All NASCAR members are responsible for whatever goes into their body.” Before 2009, drug tests in the sport were done only if suspicions arose against a driver or crew member in particular. However, the policy that was introduced that year initiated random procedural checks on a weekly basis.

Though the drug-related arrest of a Truck Series driver Aaron Fike finally set the policy in motion, NASCAR was quite late in doing so when compared to other sports. A recent online thread got fans into a discussion about drug use in NASCAR and brought some interesting details to the surface.

Fans dig up NASCAR’s ugly past by discussing drug use in the sport

Sports and drugs often go hand-in-hand. Seldom has a sport gone entirely clean without any reports of substance abuse. Surprisingly, NASCAR is one of those sports that borders on the better side. Though there have been reports of drug use, they are nowhere as prevalent as in a few other sports. But in the few instances that drugs found their way into the tracks, things got as ugly as they could.

In a recent thread on Reddit, fans exchanged their thoughts on the history of drugs in the tracks and unearthed some sour experiences that ought to have never occurred. A Redditor asked, “Were drugs ever prevalent in NASCAR, similar to MLB & NFL in the 1980’s? Cocaine was big in professional baseball and football in the 1980s. Was this the case in racing as well?” The responses were anything but uninteresting.

One user wrote, “NASCAR there wasn’t much I believe. IMSA on the other hand… oh boy.” Another quickly got behind them, calling the IMSA, the “International Marijuana Smuggling Association.” The jibe results from the multiple reports of illegal drug usage in IMSA during the 80s.

Coming back to NASCAR, a fan wrote, “I would say anyone that hung out with Tim Richmond in the 80’s was on blow at some point.” Tim Richmond was one of stock car racing’s brightest stars in the 80s. After facing drug use allegations, which he denied, Richmond died at the age of 34 in 1989. It was only after his passing that it came to light that NASCAR’s drug test that he failed was error-prone.

Churning up events from more recent memory, a couple of contributors to the thread brought up the cases of Denny Hamlin and AJ Allmendinger. One wrote, “Denny and Adderall comes to mind… or was that Ritalin?” Another quipped, “You should ask AJ Allmendinger.” The claims about these current stars are not unsubstantiated.

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Every season, at least one stakeholder from NASCAR, a driver or crew member, gets caught using drugs prohibited in the rulebook. In 2023, it was Roper Racing’s Corey Roper. Regardless of the effectiveness of the 2009 policy, some big names have found the spotlight in violation of the rules. The biggest of those is probably Brian France, the former CEO of NASCAR. Found in possession of a prohibited drug, Oxycodone, he was arrested in 2018 and later stepped down from his post.

Popular cases of drug use in NASCAR history

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Prior to that in 2012, A.J. Allmendinger, then racing for Team Penske, failed a random test by NASCAR and put the entire grid into shock. Talking about a further awaited second test, his then-teammate Brad Keselowski said, as reported by jacksonville.com, “Whether it comes back positive or negative, it doesn’t make a difference. It’s still a death sentence. In this sport, we rely on sponsors and reputation.”

Allmendinger got back to his car after completing NASCAR’s mandatory “Road to Recovery” program. The driver himself revealed that he’d taken a pill from a friend in the belief that it would help fight fatigue, but it ended up having an ingredient found in Adderall, a controlled substance. In 2018, Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin found himself in drug-related crosshairs. Fortunately, it wasn’t because of usage. Talking on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast, Hamlin claimed that around 70% of his fellow drivers take Adderall. His words received heavy backlash from the promotion which expressed confidence in its testing programs.

Hamlin later explained his words saying, as per usatoday, “When they asked me how many (drivers), I said I didn’t know, and they said, ‘Just give us a number,’ and I joked around and gave them a number that has no fact behind it. It’s getting blown up.”

Though NASCAR’s ugly side gets revealed in the many cases that get reported, it is a positive aspect that the promotion provides no slack in the matter. Hopefully, we will not see another case along the lines of the icon Tim Richmond in the sport again.

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