NASCAR Teams Feeling Pinch From High Gas Prices

CIA Stock Photo, Inc.

Mar 27, 2008

NASCAR officials say its teams are not affected by the day-to-day fluctuations in fuel cost. On average, Americans use 366 million gallons of gas per day, compared to roughly 135,000 gallons per year for the Sprint Cup Series. NASCAR, at this time, plans no change in race lengths.
And fundamentally, RCR has quit flying so much.
“We’ve been flying to Bristol for the last 10 years, but last week, all of our teams drove,” Dillon said. “And you know what? Nobody complained.”
While Sprint Cup teams are hurting, Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series teams search for new ways to help combat the fuel cost.

“You put [fuel] in the budget and pay for it, but in all honestly it’s subject to be $5 a gallon before the end of season. That’s a big bite out of the budget, so if you can get them to pay for it, it’s a huge help.”
Compton’s team recently went to test a trio of trucks, but ultimately decided to leave one truck at home based solely on the premise that they would only have to send one transporter instead of two.
“We looked at it and said, ‘This is dumb,’” Compton said. “We shouldn’t spend the extra fuel for the extra hauler. You start looking at things a lot differently when you’re talking about spending $600, $700 per fill-up.
“For smaller teams with limited budgets, you have to look at it hard. It’s a huge dent. We budget for fuel increases, but still, it’s a lot more money than anybody needs to be spending on fuel.”

Read the full story