AJ Allmendinger will remain on temporary suspension this week, after filing an official request on Monday night for
NASCAR to test the 'B' sample he submitted as part of a random drugs test ten days ago.
A statement from the driver released on Tuesday said: "I have informed
NASCAR that I have requested that the 'B' sample be tested, following the steps according to NASCAR's 2012 rule book regarding this situation. I fully respect NASCAR's drug usage policy and the reasons they have it.
"I am hoping this can get resolved as quickly as possible so that I can get back to driving the #22 Penske Racing Dodge. I am sorry that this has caused such a distraction for my Penske Racing team, our sponsors and fans.
"Obviously I would never do anything to jeopardize my opportunity here at Penske Racing or to my fellow drivers. I am very conscious about my training and health and would never knowingly take a prohibited drug," the statement concluded.
"He was a little dumbfounded and shellshocked Saturday night," Allmendinger's business manager Tara Regan told
The Associated Press on Monday. "Yesterday, it just seemed a little surreal."
She said that AJ denied breaking NASCAR's substance abuse policy, and added: "It's just so far from AJ's character, and he's trying to come to terms with what has just happened and figure out how this could happen."
His Sprint Cup team, Penske Racing, has already announced that Sam Hornish Jr. will once again deputise for Allmendinger in the Shell/Pennzoil-sponsored #22 car at next weekend's event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, as the results of the retest will probably not be known in time before the race weekend gets underway.
"Penske Racing does not know when/if B sample test will occur for AJ," Penske Racing president Tim Cindric wrote on Twitter on Monday. "If it does happen, it could take days for results," he said, adding that deciding now to field Hornish at New Hampshire gave the team more preparation time.
It was
announced on Saturday that Allmendinger's first 'A' test sample had proved positive for one or more drugs listed under NASCAR's long list of prohibited medications. Under NASCAR's substance abuse policy, five drivers are asked at random at each event to give samples for testing, and Allmendinger was among those chosen at Kentucky over the last weekend in June.