Shane Hmiel Overcomes Second Positive Drug Test

Shane Hmiel (born May 15, 1980 in Pleasant Garden, North Carolina) is an American NASCAR race driver.
Shane is the son of Lisa Hmiel and Steve Hmiel, former NASCAR crew chief and later a competition director who worked for several teams including Roush Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Swan Racing. He also has a younger brother, Tyler Hmiel.
At age 5, Hmiel was misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He began smoking cannabis at age 12, and on a daily basis through his teens and 20s. Hmiel also admitted to using cocaine "about 100 times," and used drugs in part to medicate himself.
In 2001, Hmiel competed in the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series, earning the Rookie of the Year award with two wins and 13 top-10 finishes, finishing fifth in points. Hmiel also ran a single ARCA Re/Max Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, finishing second. Hmiel also qualified the No. 48 Chevrolet for Innovative Motorsports in Busch Series, the second-tier national series of NASCAR, at Memphis Motorsports Park, filling in for Kenny Wallace who raced the car.
For 2002, Hmiel moved to the Busch Series in the No. 47 Chevrolet for Innovative as a teammate to Wallace. Initially planned to run a part-time schedule, sponsorship from Thomas Pacconi Classics, Goulds Pumps, and Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. expanded his schedule to the full season. Hmiel opened his rookie season with a fifth-place finish at Daytona. That 2002 season was most notable for his feud with fellow rookie Casey Mears where he and Mears got into some incidents during the season. Despite the feud, Hmiel earned two poles (at Nashville and Loudon), two top 5s, and eight top 10s to finish 16th in points and third in Rookie of the Year standings behind Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter.
In 2003, Hmiel moved into Innovative's No. 48 car. After the first 26 races of the season, he already improved on his rookie season statistics, earning four top 5s and 10 top 10s, and sat 8th in points. Hmiel's best NASCAR effort came at Indianapolis Raceway Park in August 2003, where he won the pole, led the most laps and staged a very competitive battle with eventual series champion Brian Vickers. Vickers took his first career victory, while Hmiel finished fourth. In December 2009, the race was selected by media members as the greatest Nationwide Series race of the decade. Hmiel also attempted to qualify for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July in the Winston Cup Series for Petty Enterprises' famed 43 car, with normal driver Christian Fittipaldi driving Petty's 44 car. He did not, however make the race.
At the Funai 250 at Richmond International Raceway, Hmiel was involved in several on track incidents, beginning on lap 103 when he spun the lapped car of Randy MacDonald. Late in the race with 5 laps to go, Hmiel was involved in an accident with Jason Keller. Hmiel was moved out of line down the backstretch, then slipped up into Keller in turn three, sending Keller's 57 car into the wall driver's side first. Hmiel was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for an altercation in the garage area after the race with Keller. Fellow competitor David Green would later identify this race as a sign of bad times to come for Hmiel.
A week later on September 18, Hmiel was suspended indefinitely for failing a drug test, testing positive for marijuana. According to NASCAR's substance abuse policy, the sanctioning body is allowed to administer drug tests, based only on "reasonable suspicion", at their sole discretion. At the time, he was the highest-profile driver to fail such a test. Hmiel was released from Innovative Motorsports, replaced with former Busch Series champion Jeff Green at Dover, then several other veteran drivers for the remainder of the season. He was set to drive the 91 car for Evernham Motorsports that weekend at Dover coming up but the team withdrew after the suspension.
Hmiel was reinstated in 2004 after completing NASCAR's Road to Recovery program, and was picked up for the full Craftsman Truck Series season by Billy Ballew Motorsports, with crew chief Ritchie Wauters. Hmiel scored his first and only NASCAR victory at the Las Vegas 350 in September, racing hard with Todd Bodine through lapped traffic, eventually bumping Bodine out of the way coming to the white flag.
Hmiel returned to Busch Series competition at the 9th race of the season at Fontana for GIC-Mixon Motorsports, starting and finishing 32nd. After running three more races with GIC, he drove two races for Akins Motorsports' No. 38 Dodge, scoring a fourth-place finish at Milwaukee. In late October, Hmiel was signed to Braun Racing, replacing David Stremme in the TrimSpa X32 Dodge for the remainder of the season beginning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He had a best finish of 22nd in four starts for Braun. Hmiel also made his Nextel Cup Series debut in September at Fontana in the 23 car for Bill Davis Racing. He ran 5 races for BDR, with a best finish of 24th at Kansas and Atlanta.
For 2005, Braun formed an alliance with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and switched to Chevrolet. The team was also joined by new sponsor WinFuel Multivitamins, produced by TripSpa's parent company. Hmiel was in a series of commercials with Dale Earnhardt Jr. to promote his sponsor's product. In addition to the full Busch Series schedule and a partial truck series schedule with Ballew, Braun and WinFuel fielded a 08 Chevrolet in a partial schedule in the Cup Series for Hmiel, debuting at Atlanta.
During the Sharpie 250 at Bristol in April, Hmiel was involved in a very heated incident with Cup Series veteran Dale Jarrett after Hmiel spun him out on the front stretch with three laps to go. The two were racing for 12th and 13th place, and Hmiel had bumped and ran the last three drivers he had passed before getting to Jarrett's 90 car. When an angry Jarrett leaned into Hmiel's window to question why Hmiel had spun him out, Hmiel appeared to have no remorse for his driving, then flipped the middle finger toward Jarrett as the latter was walking away. The incident was captured live on Fox Sports' national television broadcast (especially the finger gesture pointed at Jarrett) through Hmiel's in-car camera. Hmiel was fined $10,000 and docked 25 points in the standings for the incident.
At Charlotte in May 2005, Hmiel was administered another substance test following Busch Series qualifying, after NASCAR officials observed Hmiel making "erratic moves" on the racetrack. In June at Dover, it was revealed that he had failed the test, and he was escorted from the garage by NASCAR officials. Hmiel had tested positive for marijuana and cocaine, and was suspended "indefinitely" starting in May 2005. Hmiel was offered a chance at reinstatement after his second infraction, under condition that he submit to medical and psychological reviews, and frequent drug testing before reinstatement.
In 2006, instead of failing a third drug test, he had made it back and was eligible to compete again. However, it was on February 12, and Speedweeks was around the corner. Luckily, on the same day, his father Steve found him a ride on the next day. Driver Robert Richardson Jr., who raced for his father Robert Sr.'s team in the Craftsman Truck Series, had broken his right hand in a practice crash and they needed a replacement for the first three to four races. Quickly, Shane was ready. The team he was competing at was one of the worst in the field, so when he scored a 17th place after the checkered flag flew at the Daytona 250 on Friday, it was a success. Less good was the next race at Fontana where he wrecked out leader Ted Musgrave who had lapped him and ended up being blackflagged, finishing 41th. He would impress in Atlanta tho, finishing 14th, and then went on to finish Martinsville in 9th. One owner who had his eyes on him was Jack Roush, for whom Steve had served as the crew chief for the 6 team in the early years of his career. Hmiel Sr. would talk to Roush after the Martinsville race, and it turned out that in Madison he would need a replacement for Mark Martin who had scored two wins and two other Top 5's in the first four races, but was only competing part time that season. So Shane Hmiel would step in at Madison, beating eventual champion Todd Bodine for his second Truck Series win.
Quickly, he got the NASCAR world's impression again. At Charlotte, Martin was supposed to compete in the 6 car again, but declined, deciding that Shane would need it. Shane would edge out Kyle Busch in a photo finish. The winner's interview would turn into a Busch/Hmiel feud.
He would win again at Mansfield, Ohio, making it three in a row. While rookie Erik Darnell, Shane's teammate, was competing decent too, Shane had proven himself as the Number 1. In Dover however, Mark was filling in again and Hmiel skipped that one. As a whole, this campaign was just to warm up Shane. He scored two more victories before the season was over.
== (Nextel/Sprint/Monster Energy) Cup Series from 2006 onwards ==
Since Mark Martin was retiring from full time competition after 2006, Roush needed a new driver for the 6 car. Their plan was on a young rider from their program. The first candidate was Todd Kluever, starting with two positions outside the Top 40 and a DNQ. The next driver, David Ragan, had been slightly better with a 25th as his best finish. However, for the last two races, Hmiel got a chance in the 06's Ford Fusion. At Phoenix, Shane scored a then career best 23rd, topping that with a 21st at the season finale in Homestead. That would mean a 56th in the final standings, just ahead of Kluever and enough to get into the 6. His teammates in 2007 would be Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray.
=== 2007 ===
Shane Hmiel's rookie season began great at the Daytona 500. In a race marked by accidents, he would finish in 3rd behind Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin, 18 (!) places better than his best Cup Series finish up to that point, even tieing his best Nationwide finish.
Fans were stunned, as he had been ninth with the last restart for the green white checker, but when he avoided the final big ones like the ones before, it really showed his potential and his nerves.
Sadly, it would remain unique that way. The season overall was a disaster, with 15 DNF's in 36 races. The low of the season was the Food City 500 where he failed to qualify. In the end, he would finish the season in 32nd, even behind Mark Martin who had only been starting part time. An average finish of 28.0 was a disaster for Jack Roush, but he knew his driver would need more time. At least the qualifyings were great, with three poles over the season.
=== 2008 ===
2008 would turn out to be a lot better. He would score several Top 10's and finish the season in 20th. However, still some crashes were on the way. His rivalry with Kyle Busch just got hotter. In Watkins Glen the two would battle for the win, with Kyle doing it and Shane Hmiel scoring a then career best second. Hmiel would call this 'the most disappointing race of my life'. Luckily, merely ten days later Hmiel got his revenge at the Truck Race at Bristol, beating Kyle Busch in a photo finish, making that his 7th Truck victory and his first victory lane in nearly two years.
=== 2009 ===
Hmiel continued to progress with Roush, finishing 16th in that year, and that despite not scoring any Top 5 finishes (but twelve Top 10's). He was involved in some big ones like at the Daytona 500 or also in New Hampshire and Talladega tho that prevented him from having any chance to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The biggest heartbreak however came in Michigan, when it looked all but guaranteed that Shane Hmiel would score his maiden Cup Series victory. However, on the final lap, he ran out on fuel while leading. He was really upset over it, but got support from winner Mark Martin. He also scored his then best finish in the Nationwide Series (previously the Busch Series) with second in Charlotte. He once again was beaten by - Kyle Busch.
=== 2010 ===
After his father Steve returned as crew chief of the 6 team Shane once again tried to classify for the Sprint Chase for the Cup, but failed just narrowly and was 14th when the seasons was over. He scored more Top 10's (13) and Top 5's (3) than in the previous years, but this was overshadowed by crashes. In Talladega, he had been the driver with the best car, but was wrecked out. At least he got that long awaited Nationwide Series win, edging out Kyle Busch at Dover. Four more victories would follow and he would show himself as a Buschwhacker, finishing the season in 3rd behind Brad Keselowski and Roush teammate Carl Edwards.
=== 2011 ===
At the Daytona 500, Hmiel lead for most of the race, but wrecked while leading, with only four laps to go. After the final green-white-checker, Trevor Bayne won. At least at the following race, his 154th start at the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in Phoenix, Hmiel finally won his Cup Series race. It also was the first win of the 6 car since 2005 and the first since they introduced the new car. He didn't stop there, but also won at Sonoma, Darlington, Talladega and Loudon, showing that he could compete at any track. He would qualify for the Chase for the first time, finishing 3rd only to Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the end. This was his breakout season, showing that he was indeed a championship threat, despite all the odds over the last years.
=== 2012 ===
The 2012 season began with a surprise from the off season, as for financial reasons he made the jump to Richard Childress Racing, which also meant a switch to Chevy. He used the number 33. A request to pain the car black was denied. At the Daytona 500, Shane won for the first time, making this the only second time he didn't DNF at the Great American Race after 2007. Five more victories would follow, but inconsistency meant he'd drop to 6th in the standings, making this the first time he finished worse in a Cup Series season than the year prior. He had his season low in Loudon where him and his teammate Kevin Harvick wrecked each others out.
Category:NASCAR