NASCAR Chairman Brian France says he's comfortable with the sport's drug-testing policy, although some drivers question why the series does not have mandatory random drug testing.

France says he sees no reason to change the policy, citing its stiff penalties. Other pro leagues, though, have strengthened their policies recently and bills about drugs in sports sit in Congressional committees.

"We have a very, very get-tough policy,'' France said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. "We have plenty of opportunities at our discretion to test whomever we need to test and we think it's pretty effective."

NASCAR randomly drug tests someone only if they've failed a previous drug test. All other times, NASCAR tests someone based on reasonable suspicion -- which can be based on anything from accidents to an individual's behavior.

Former champion Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton are among the drivers who have said that they favor mandatory random drug testing in NASCAR.

"You don't want the fans up there in the stands with a lot of questions about what's going on and what they've been watching and whether it's real,'' Earnhardt said this spring. "Fix it now.''

In April, a NASCAR official stated that the series had mandated 40-45 drug tests the past two years. About 15 of those tests were performed on Shane Hmiel as part of his reinstatement.

NASCAR suspended Hmiel in September 2003 for violating the Substance Abuse Policy. He was reinstated in February 2004. Hmiel failed a drug test in May. What drug was found in either positive test has never been revealed.

NASCAR suspended Hmiel until at least 2007 after last month's positive test. The 1¹₂ year suspension is greater than any second-offense penalty in the NFL, MLB or NBA.

"Testing doesn't matter as much if you don't have a tough policy on the other end,'' France said.

Searching for an answer

The transporters hauling the cars from Sonoma, Calif., were not expected to return to most race shops until sometime Tuesday evening. That left some crews guessing what went wrong with transmissions.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were among a number of drivers who had such problems.

Johnson finished 36th and lost the points lead. Gordon finished 33rd and fell to 14th in the points.

Both Johnson and Gordon say their problem was with the gear shift. They couldn't get it out of third gear. Why remains a mystery.

"It wasn't that any of us were missing shifts or anything like that,'' Gordon said.

Wrong idea

Becoming the points leader was special for Greg Biffle on Sunday, but what he said made it better was the perceived slight he got from Jimmie Johnson, who had been leading the points.

Biffle noted how Johnson laughed after Biffle got off course Friday in qualifying and started 41st in the 43-car field.

"I hate that he misunderstood it,'' Johnson said. "I know his team knows where I'm coming from because they were standing right there with me when I watched it on the Jumbotron when he went off the track.

"I was applauding him. I thought he did a great job saving the car. If you look on the video from qualifying, I'm clapping and commending him on his job of saving the car and you can see my lips say 'great save.' ''