Jon Wood, the third-generation member of the legendary Wood Brothers Racing family from Stuart, Va., has spent his life in and around racing -- most recently competing at NASCAR's highest levels.

Wood progressed through the ranks of karts and Late Model stock cars to the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won races for Roush Racing. He moved to the Busch Series for the current family conglomerate, Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, and earlier this season made his long-anticipated Nextel Cup debut in the famous No. 21 Wood/JTG Ford.

Stock-car racing has been very good to the 25-year-old.

But throughout his life Wood has also battled Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition that only recently has begun to be dealt with in a more orderly, but at the same time an almost unavoidably uncertain, fashion.

Wood experienced that first-hand earlier this season when, while under a doctor's care, he experienced symptoms that were arguably much worse than what he'd battled with unchecked ADD.

With the full support of his family, including father and team co-owner Eddie Wood, and his team, Wood stepped out of the organization's Busch Series car and, several weeks later, was ready to step back into one of its Craftsman Truck Series Ford F-150s -- in effect swapping roles with young Kelly Bires.

Wood's return, which came with a sixth-place finish at Kentucky Speedway in July, has resulted in five top-10 finishes in seven starts, including a dominant run at Las Vegas where Wood led the most laps before finishing third.

Wood is responsible for half of the No. 21 team's 10 top-10s in 20 starts.

Q: In June at Dover, you took an abrupt break from the sport. From your perspective, what happened to make you step back and regroup?

I know a lot of people looked at the way this happened and think it's real shady because there wasn't a lot of explanation given. I don't want this to appear as though I had something to hide.

Basically it was a lack of knowledge of what to do in this type of situation. I woke up that Friday morning with an excruciating headache, which we're not sure if it was related to the medication I was on at the time. But Scott Zipadelli, my crew chief on the Busch car, actually asked me if I was feeling OK, and I wasn't. Something wasn't right, and it was terrible that it had to happen 15 minutes into practice. It would have been so much more convenient if it had occurred during the week, even.

But there's a reason everything happens. I was 24th in the first practice, out of 43 cars, but I realized it just wasn't going to work, and I had to come up with a solution. And there isn't a textbook for dealing with a prescribed medication that wasn't working out -- there's no hotline you can call and say, 'I'm having headaches and mood swings, what do I need to do?'

Q: This brought to light an aspect of NASCAR that people might not be aware of, didn't it?

First and foremost, once you get to the top level of motorsports in this country, which obviously is NASCAR, specifically the Busch Series and the Nextel Cup Series, you subject yourself to a lot more criticism and opinions.

When you're a driver it's not like going to a normal 9-5 job. Your 9-5 job is viewed by a massive amount of people, all at once. It's very difficult to keep a private life and to keep a lot of things that would be considered personal, personal.

I would say that someone's medical history is something that's personal. But with the way events unfolded, and the fact that I do suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder, I guess carries a certain stigma -- it just makes you different. It looks like you can't pay attention and that you can't function in a normal society because your mind is just so scatterbrained, which is far from true. Attention Deficit Disorder is a new type of disease that there isn't a lot of knowledge about and I think that's why some of the side affects that are brought on by some of the medicines that are taken for that can be misconstrued as some sort of illegal street drug abuse.

A lot of times when you are diagnosed with Attention Deficit you're put on a medication that would be classified as a stimulant -- and stimulants are something that in the older days were classified as illegal drugs. But for someone who suffers from what I suffer from, they have the opposite effect. They make it to where you can concentrate, focus and perform better in society.

Q: But in your case, the treatment plan you were put on didn't match the symptoms, did it?

The medicine that I was given was over-prescribed -- I was taking too much, and it had some adverse side effects including weight loss and things that may not be appealing to the eye -- but again, I was under a doctor's care and thought that I was doing the right thing.

So it was just a vicious snowball effect that made me go from just not being able to pay attention to losing weight and having headaches and mood swings and things of that nature. It was just a downhill struggle, and everything came to a head at Dover weekend.

Basically I had gotten to a point where nobody could give me answers as to what I needed to do to cope with this disorder that I had. The medicine I was on was causing all kinds of problems so with the help of my dad and some other close family members, the best idea was to just come off the medicine completely.

Jon Wood first felt the affects of his ADD medication at Dover earlier this year, then decided to step away from the track to address the medical issue.

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Q: After Dover, when you decided to stop your medication program, what happened?

When we made that decision it left a lot of unknowns as to whether I was going to have any side effects from stopping this medicine cold turkey. We just didn't know -- so I couldn't race for two weeks, when I had to be monitored by a doctor to make sure I didn't have any complications.

I wasn't in jail. I wasn't in rehab or any type of place that a lot of people have seemed to form an opinion of. I simply was undergoing treatment for stopping these medicines.

But I guess all the scenarios that could pile together to make my situation worse, did happen.

A couple of other drivers got into trouble for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy and I was just guilty by association because those guys had problems and at that particular point in time, without knowing what to say, it made my situation worse than if I had just basically said what I'm saying now.

The short and sweet of it was that the medicine I was taking for my Attention Deficit Disorder was causing me more problems than I could shake a stick at, so I stopped. And I guess by stopping and not giving the public a play-by-play explanation of what was going on, rumors just ran amok.

Ever since then I've been fighting to try to clear my name of these rumors and it's been very difficult. But I had a chance to talk to Mike Helton, and if anyone's never met with him, he's quite the intimidating kind of guy. He means business. And to know that he feels like I've done the right thing and I'm on the right track is enough for me.

Q: To what degree did NASCAR get involved in the changes in your treatment program, particularly as you say when it hit rock bottom and you knew you needed to make a change?

NASCAR only steps in when you've done something wrong, and in this case, they've been behind me and I'm ever so grateful for that.

NASCAR, as you may or may not know, very closely monitors and polices the mental and physical condition of all their competitors and participants, on whatever level they are.

I think that's of the utmost importance because of all professional sports, motorsports are the most dangerous and put the drivers and crewmembers alike at the highest risk of injury if you're not at the top of your game.

So I think what NASCAR does is outstanding. They have been completely understanding and have done everything they can to help me get everything back to normal. When I was first diagnosed with Attention Deficit NASCAR was completely well-aware of what was going on, the medicines I was on and their effects.

They were 100 percent in my corner on doing the stuff because I was fully involved with NASCAR's doctor as well as my personal doctor. So they had no problem with what I was doing. But when you start having these side effects, it was my responsibility to identify them and say, 'This isn't working.'

That's what I did, and when I did it wasn't NASCAR saying, 'There's something wrong with you.' It was basically me, on my own, deciding to stop taking these medicines and do an alternative treatment.

At the time I was screened for any illegal drugs and have been since and I have yet to have any issues with that. I don't think there's anybody in this world that could come forward and say I'm lying about that.

Back when I was struggling with this, it was a matter of not knowing what to do. It was a very unfortunate situation because I neglected a lot of obligations and I had a rough time -- not because I wanted to be that way.

Medicines can help, and they can hurt and in this case I think they did more damage for me than they did good. I'm not the type of person to hold anyone liable for the situation. It was just a mistake that was made.

But since then I've gotten on the right program to deal with this little minor issue that I have with Attention Deficit and it's completely under control. I don't have one problem with it right now. In fact, I'm better now than I was before I started taking medicines for it.

Q: What's the centerpiece of the new program you're using to deal with your ADD?

The fact that I was observant enough, and my family was involved enough to know what we were doing with the medication wasn't working, made it an easy task to pinpoint what I needed to do to cope with it. It's a matter of, the more you understand about it, the better you can just naturally help yourself. I'm going to be honest -- my heart goes out to any person or any family member that has to deal with this stuff.

There are so many people who have been diagnosed, will be diagnosed, or will go through their entire life untreated and I can't put into words what a burden it is to have to deal with it. But even moreso is dealing with the misinterpretation of what's going on.

Basically I was a victim of a treatment plan gone wrong, and it's no fun. And like I said, I'm overly sympathetic of people who have been in my situation or who are going through it. Whatever opportunity I get to be a spokesperson or an advocate for trying to help these people, I want to do it.

I paid a very high price for something that I really didn't bring on myself. But I don't harbor any animosity or look at it as something that I have to be ashamed of. I look at it as an opportunity now because I'm willing to help out anybody who's going through that stuff.

I went on Claire B. Lang's radio show on XM Satellite Radio and was overwhelmed by the feedback and support that got, so I'm even more motivated to talk about it now.

Q: To any degree did you withdraw from the world a bit to get things straight through June, before you came back to the Truck Series in July?

I'm only talking about this because I've finally come to the realization that not talking about it makes it seem like I've got something to hide. A lot of people wondered why they couldn't get in touch with me for a couple of weeks and why I changed my cell phone number. The truth of it is I was just trying to isolate myself from everybody -- all outside sources -- because all I was getting at the time was criticism.

I was doing the right thing by trying to make myself better and it was no fun to hear what some people were saying when some of it was so far-fetched and not even remotely close to the truth.

I'm the kind of person who takes everyone else's opinions far too seriously. Earlier this year, people saw me and I wasn't as outgoing as I normally am. It's taken me up until now to want to talk about this, and at one point I had gotten to the point where I was a bit standoffish and I do want to apologize for that.

I changed my phone number because, it was pretty well known when I was 21, 22, 23 I had quite the party lifestyle, like a lot of people that age do. I wasn't completely out of control by any means, but it was time to move on from that. I needed to get rid of those phone calls at 2, 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and get rid of those distractions.

Q: You've talked about turning a page in your life and growing up, so is this all part of that?

I've had a busy six or seven months with my fiancee, Adrienne. We've been dating since the beginning of 2006 and I've decided that she's the person that complements me in a lot of ways and we have an outstanding relationship.

I have turned a page in my life. I'm more focused on my racing and I represent one of the most respected groups of people in the country, the United States Air Force. So I want to act and have the same amount of respect for myself and everyone else as they do.

Everybody goes through a part of their lives where there's a bit of turmoil. It may not be a lot of fun, but I can tell you this has made me a much better person.

I'd have to apologize for the way I acted some times, right before I decided I'd had enough -- but people weren't seeing the real Jon Wood then.

Q: Was there ever a question about how important driving a racecar was to you, and were you especially driven to return?

No, there was no question. I've lived and breathed racecars and driving racecars as long as I can remember. I can't think of any other lifestyle other than that.

It was heart-wrenching to not be able to drive for the time I was gone -- when I had to sit out and then, when there was a gap in the Truck schedule after we decided that was what we would do.

Q: What can you say about next year's program, which we've been hearing you'll split a Nextel Cup schedule with a couple other Wood/JTG drivers?

I can tell you this: I've thoroughly enjoyed myself and it's truly been an honor to get back together with John Monsam and get back to racing in the Truck Series.

People sometimes don't give the Craftsman Truck Series the credit that it deserves. It's Saturday night, short-track-style racing at the same venues Nextel Cup goes to, without that corporate-style, pressure-packed mentality to it. It's the type of racing that goes back to the grassroots of NASCAR. It's a great place for drivers and crew chiefs and crewmembers to really get their feet wet and to be considered a stepping stone to get to that premier level -- Nextel Cup. But it's also a good place for anyone to race.

There's nothing set in stone for next year, but I feel like I'll do a partial Nextel Cup schedule and I'd love to race for a Truck championship. I'm feeling like the Nextel Cup schedule I was supposed to run this year will occur next year, with Wood Brothers/JTG and hopefully in the 21 car -- though I haven't seen it on paper.

Q: Have you run a Car of Tomorrow yet?

I have. And if I had my preference, let's just say in theory I'm going to run a limited schedule next year. I think running trucks will be a bigger asset and more help in conjunction with running some Nextel Cup races than running a Busch car would be.

Busch cars and COT cars are about as different as an apple and a squash. They are nothing alike. I see that racing trucks will play more into my favor. The size of the vehicles is similar -- the only major difference is the horsepower. But in the way that they drive, they're similar, so I think that will be a big plus, I firmly believe that.

Q: Would you like to run for the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series championship with the team you have now?

Yeah, there's no doubt I would. If I'm not mistaken, if you reset the points from the time I started back in the series, at Kentucky in July, since then I'd be third or fourth in points based on what we've accumulated.

I go to bed at night and I wake up in the morning thinking about how much I hope I get to keep those same guys.

Q: Are you building some momentum here through the end of the season?

Without looking at the numbers, the finishes, but looking at our race notes and the excitement and momentum that all the guys at the shop are carrying -- we're getting better every week, without question.