Last July, the NASCAR community was tarnished by the news of another off-track incident that involved one of its drivers. This time it was Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike and his battle with heroin addiction.

The news sent shockwaves throughout the garage and seemed to take his team – Red Horse Racing – by complete surprise.

Aaron Fike’s struggles began over six years ago when the Cornelius, NC-native began abusing prescription painkillers. That addiction led to much larger problems when the former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver began an eight month heroin addiction.

The once-a-week fix quickly turned into a daily routine, a routine that nearly cost him his life. Fike, and his fiancé Cassandra Davidson, were arrested in July of last year the parking lot of the Kings Island amusement park outside of Cincinnati, Oh.

The couple was shooting up heroin in the back of Fike’s black SUV. When the police arrived they found bloody napkins, syringes, a spoon and black tar heroin.

"After four months of intense rehabilitation, I know that if it were not for my arrest, I would be dead," Fike said. "At one point during my addiction, I stopped breathing and nearly died. Sooner or later, my luck would have run out."

NASCAR was quick to act following the news, suspending both Fike and Davidson – who worked as a crew member for the team – indefinitely for actions detrimental to stock car racing. Seven NASCAR drivers have been suspended indefinitely from the sport in the last eight years due to substance abuse. Most notably, Shane Hmeil – son of legendary mechanic Steve Hmeil – was suspended for life after failing his third drug test.

The news grew even more shocking last week, when the 25-year-old told ESPN The Magazine he had used heroin on race day. On June 30, 2007, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ran the O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Rookie Aaron Fike started the day from the eight spot and was able to bring the truck home to a career best finish of fifth – all under the influence of heroin.

"I had no idea," said Tom DeLoach, co-owner and general manager of Red Horse Racing, told Ryan McGee of ESPN. "None of us did. Not those of us that worked beside him every weekend or, to the best of my knowledge, any of the people that we race against every weekend."

This shocking admission set the NASCAR community on fire this weekend at the Phoenix International Raceway. Drivers adamantly voiced their concern about NASCAR’s current drug testing policy, which is based on ‘reasonable suspicion’.

Many called for more comprehensive testing and urged NASCAR to act. One of the most adamant voices at Phoenix was that of Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

"We haven't made any headway whatsoever on the drug testing policy. In the 10 years that I've raced, I've never been drug tested. So to me, that is not a proper professional sports drug policy and I went up and talked to them about it,” Harvick explained. “They were more mad that I had a reaction to the situation than they were as far as trying to move forward. To me, it was just kind of one of those meetings where they were content to listen to what I had to say and that was about it. My name is not Jeff Gordon."

Many top level drivers share Harvick’s opinion and have admitted they have never been asked by NASCAR to take a drug test. Most believe there should be year-round testing of everyone in the garage, not just drivers, but crew members as well.

"I'm all for it," Tony Stewart explained from Phoenix. "I would love it. I've never been asked to take one yet. I think it should be mandatory that we have random drug testing all the time, I think non-stop through the year. Obviously with this happening, we as an organization aren't doing a good job of seeing it before it happens. Aaron coming out and saying that is an indication that we need to do a better job than we're currently doing. But I'm all for random drug testing, from the time we go to Daytona to the time we finish the season at Homestead. I think it's a great idea."

Even Fike admits NASCAR’s current policy is not sufficient.

“I was able to race with it in my system, so it didn't work with me."

The majority of sports out there today have had issues as of late with drugs. Whether performance enhancing or substance abuse every sport from baseball to cycling to golf has had to react to incidents of reported abuse.

It is time for NASCAR to step up and ensure that safety is not just a priority when it comes to the walls and the cars, but the competitors themselves.

Harvick went on to explain, "There's no reason not to be proactive in the drug situation, and that to me is irresponsible more than it is anything. I'm sure I'll be blasted from somebody for saying what I feel, but I don't want to be on the racetrack with people like that."