CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer Brian France stood solidly behind the sanctioning body's drug policy Friday, adding a specific definition of a "serious violation" as was the case with Jeremy Mayfield's test, which led to the Sprint Cup driver facing an immediate and indefinite suspension.

During a news conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway, France tried to assuage drivers' fears that they might mistakenly fail a drug test by using a combination of over-the-counter or prescription medications, as Mayfield claimed was the case at Darlington last weekend.

"Our particular test is extremely thorough," France said. "It will pick up almost any substance that should not be in your body. If you should test positive for over-the-counter medications or prescribed medications that you're on with your doctor, even though it would be identified, that doesn't result in NASCAR suspending you because you may not be in violation of the policy.

"Now, you will probably be talking to Dr. [David] Black or his associates to explain why you had a certain substance that was identified in the test. That's happened a lot and it doesn't get you a suspension. Last weekend, we had a serious violation of our substance abuse policy, which gets you in our situation, an automatic and indefinite suspension. And that is where we stand with Jeremy today. We've been down this road with other infractions of the policy in the past."

France said when the test picks up an unusual substance that appeared to be related to an over-the-counter or prescribed drug, doctors at Aegis Sciences Corp. -- the company that administers and monitors the testing -- contacts that person to get an explanation. But if the substance is on NASCAR's banned list, there is no recourse.

"What would happen in that situation is they would be on the phone -- and this has happened quite a bit, but we don't publicize it -- giving an explanation to Dr. Black or his associates," France said. "They would either agree with his explanation, or they wouldn't. Most of the time in that circumstance, it's resolved. It didn't alter them at the event, all the things we would be concerned about. It would be mostly prescribed medications and it would be resolved. It would not invoke an indefinite suspension of the kind that Jeremy or others have gotten."

"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."