It was something no one expected. Saturday afternoon only hours before the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400, the rumors began to swirl; the Penske Racing No. 22 team was being allowed to make changes to the Dodge, namely seat adjustments as though they were preparing the car for someone other than normal driver AJ Allmendinger.
Was he sick? No one knew the answer and the team as being tight lipped. Then a few minutes before 6:00 p.m. NASCAR officials in the media center said they had an announcement to make. That was soon followed by an appearance from Steve O’Donnell NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations who read a statement:
Driver AJ Allmendinger has been temporarily suspended from NASCAR competition based upon notification of a positive “A” test NASCAR received from the Medical Review Officer as stated in Section 19-11B (6,7) of the NASCAR Substance Abuse Policy. Pursuant to the rule book, Allmendinger has the opportunity to request within the next 72 hours that his “B” sample be tested. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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