France defends policy, citing serious infractions (cont'd)

"On the other hand, if you fall into the other category, as we said, a serious infraction, which a number of people have, in either one of the area of performance-enhancing or recreational, at levels that Dr. Black believes violate the policy, that's the end of the road at that point," France said. "They'll be notified and the process will then begin, as it has for Jeremy, other crew members, other drivers, as I described."

If anyone in the garage area has a question about the policy, France said NASCAR is more than happy to explain it.

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"Obviously, we owe a full review of our policy for anyone who would like to understand it," France said. "I've tried to do that [Friday], in particular for drivers who may think that they're going to fall under the serious infraction and test positive for something. We certainly have in the last many months and frankly, longer than that, have been discussing this with any driver or crew members or participant who would like to."

When asked why NASCAR did not reveal the exact substance found in Mayfield's sample, France said the privacy of the individual remains paramount.

"If you look back at the last 20 years of our policy, we just haven't explored that," France said. "There is a privacy area because we're talking about someone's medical records and health records. There's nothing to be gained by disclosing exactly what the substance was that tested positive, in Jeremy's case or in anyone else's case. ... There's no benefit to the competitors. There's no benefit to anyone, to jeopardize someone else's privacy. If we thought there was a benefit, we would probably rethink that."

If it could have been possible that both of Mayfield's samples might have been contaminated, leading to the positive result, France was adamant.

"Obviously, we believe that we've taken, and our laboratory has taken, incredible steps to make sure that the accuracy of any particular test holds true," France said.

And Mayfield is well within his rights to follow the process toward reinstatement, France said.

"There are a number of things that occur from the moment you're notified that you have a positive test of a serious manner, and then the road to be reinstated," he said. "That part of it is a very long process. But I will tell you we're in the first part of it, as I described earlier, at least with respect to Jeremy."

France reiterated that NASCAR has the toughest drug policy of all the major sports in the United States, and hopes that indefinite suspensions will serve as a deterrent.

"How do we know if every driver is not impaired and is not taking anything at any given time?" France asked. "And the only answer to that is, we won't.

"We have a very tough policy that gives you lots of reasons not to fool around with substances that you shouldn't. And we have lots of ways to test. We also observe probable cause. ... What we are expected to do is have a very, very tough policy that has a lot of testing to make as certain as possible that if you get out of line in our sport, that [the punishment] is going to be swift and it's going to be clear."