NASCAR driver Aaron Fike reached an agreement with a Warren County (Ohio) judge to deliver anti-drug messages to youths in exchange for avoiding jail time in his arrest for heroin possession last summer, Associated Press Sports reported Nov. 27.

NASCAR driver Aaron Fike and his fiancee Cassandra Davidson was arrested in an amusement park parking lot in Cincinnati. After four months of rehabilitation, Fike presented a proposal to the judge to avoid jail time by going to schools and racetracks to deliver an anti-drug message.

"One day, I was a NASCAR race car driver, with people asking me for my autograph, and the next day I was in handcuffs, lying on the floor of a jail cell, going through the absolute agony of heroin withdrawal,'' Fike wrote in the proposal the judge accepted Nov. 6.

Fike said he began taking prescription painkillers six years ago for back injuries and a broken right wrist and eventually began taking oxycodone (OxyContin). He said his use was sporadic, but was definitely consuming his life. He spent four days in jail before entering drug treatment. "I'm just grateful to be alive," he said in an interview.

Davidson was also granted treatment rather than jail time after extensive rehabilitation. Fike has filed incorporation papers in Illinois to establish a nonprofit, "Racing Against Drugs."

NASCAR has indicated that it will go slow in recertifying Fike to race again. "After he's completed the legal process, he will have to undergo an evaluation by our substance abuse experts and follow a prescribed program that they would set for him," said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston.