NASCAR hands Carl Long and crew chief record penalties

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) - NASCAR has suspended driver Carl Long for the next 12 Sprint Cup races and fined crew chief Charles Swing $200,000, the largest penalty in the sport's history.

Read the rest here.

I know rules are rules, but this is heartless.

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Permalink Reply by JoCo on May 21, 2009 at 11:46am

Yes, that's correct. After they gave him the points back the fine escalated from $100,000 to $150,000 which was, until now I guess, the biggest fine in NASCAR history.

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Permalink Reply by BILL MORAN on May 21, 2009 at 10:38am

NA$$car must sit around and get high and ask the magic 8 ball how much, this is a bit extreme!

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Permalink Reply by rick on May 21, 2009 at 12:01pm

Just read the motor was 358.17 cubic inches. WTF? 200,000.00 fine?

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Permalink Reply by Wheaton56 on May 22, 2009 at 6:15pm

that is.0017 inch to big at each hole. could have verywell been an uncalibrated mic..

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Permalink Reply by Slider316 on May 21, 2009 at 12:22pm

engines are a complete no-fly zone...always has, always will. They are being consistant with their initial finding. I suspect, however that there will be extenuating circumstances found during appeals. Nascar doesn't want to be known for bankrupting their competitors.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on May 21, 2009 at 12:29pm

also, its a message to let the other teams know, that it doesn't matter who you are or how big/small your budget is, you mess with the motor, they mess with your team.

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Permalink Reply by rick on May 21, 2009 at 12:43pm

Must have bought one of Robby's old motors to justify a fine this large.

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Permalink Reply by brian campbell on May 21, 2009 at 1:13pm

just a way to keep single car teams out of the sport
WAY TO GO NASCAR

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on May 21, 2009 at 4:58pm

I read somewhere that Carl bought the engine from Ernie Elliot. This was posted in the comments on The Nascar Insiders website:

Racer31 on May 20th, 2009 at 11:07 pm Well since your so smart i thought i would let you know that the the infractions were very minimal. the bore was .0007 over(in only 1 cylinder) and the stroke was .0004 longer. it was that close. I was there to watch the officials tear it down with carl’s team. I over heard him saying he bought the motor used and with a small budget team like that they probably couldn’t afford to buy a motor ready to race and then pay someone to re-check the numbers. If anything he over trusted who ever he purchased the motor from. I really feel bad for the team because Nascar is only trying to make a statement out of them.

It seems to me that measurment discrepencies that small could have come from wear and tear on a used engine, not to mention the fact that this engine had blown.

Yes, it violates the rules, so some sort of penalty is in order. It obviously was not intentional and provided no advantage whatsoever, so the penalty should be minimal. I hope the board uses some common sense when they hear his appeal.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on May 21, 2009 at 5:05pm

Thanks for the technical info Alan.

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Permalink Reply by Coltranefan on May 21, 2009 at 5:49pm

I wouldnt accept anything I read on the net as fact not even these words I am typing right now. I havent checked and or referenced a single fact in the preperation of this response to the measurements quote by someone who over heard some things. As if Nascar would call out the measurements as they took them. Thats right folks color me skeptical!