AJ Allmendinger tested positive for ADHD medicine

Charlotte, NC, United States (4E Sports) – Suspended NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger admitted Tuesday that he was tested positive for prescription Adderall, prescribed for persons with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Allmendinger, who has no ADHD, said a friend handed him a pill, saying it was a workout supplement that would give him energy.

“I got to Kentucky early for a few sponsor commitments and went to hang out with a buddy for a couple of days before we got going,” Allmendinger said. “We were out early evening. I hadn’t been sleeping well — all season, really with the way things had been going, obviously, the expectations and everything like that. I was really tired, had no energy, nothing.

Believing that it would restore his energy after a tiring day, Allmendinger ingested the pill. Two days later during the Quaker State 400 race at Kentucky Speedway, he was randomly tested at the racetrack, which he ultimately failed.

“I didn’t think anything of it because I’ve taken energy supplements for working out, that my trainer gives me. So I didn’t even think about it. That was my big mistake. It was nothing crazy. It just gave me a little more energy,” said Allmendinger, who clarified that he took Adderall only once, and did not abuse it.

Allmendinger said he was not aware what specific substance he was tested positive for until he was told that it was Adderall.

“Then we went through the ‘B’ sample and when it came back positive, they told me it was Adderall or some form of Adderall. After retracing my steps I discovered that the pill he gave was not an energy supplement, it was prescription Adderall,” he said.

He is currently going through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, which he said he hopes to complete by the end of August. He said his case is being treated more as a stress-coping methodology than drug rehabilitation.

NASCAR Spokesman David Higdon said the organization is unaware of the specific substance Allmendinger took, other than that it was an amphetamine. Higdon said testing won’t reveal the brand of a substance.

“It’s part of the Road to Recovery program, to discuss that and work through it,” Higdon said. “We deal with the individual as soon as Dr. David Black comes back and recommends reinstatement.”

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