Biggest Penalty in NASCAR History
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Up until Wednesday, Carl Long was not exactly a household name among NASCAR fans.
Now he is, but for all the wrong reasons.
Long was penalized 200 driver points, his wife and team owner Danielle Long was penalized 200 owner points and crew chief Charles Swing took the biggest hit, being fined $200,000 – all for having an oversized engine in Long’s Sprint Cup car during last weekend’s all-star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
But the biggest penalty all three incurred was a 12-race suspension for each, meaning we won’t see the Longs, Swing or the No. 46 Dodge anywhere near a Cup racetrack until mid-August at the earliest.
Now, I’m the first guy to applaud NASCAR when it nails someone for cheating. And I will say “Bravo” for its actions.
But this infraction is making me scratch my head somewhat.
First off, the violation occurred during a non-points race, which meant Long’s performance or lack thereof had absolutely no bearing on where he was in the standings.
Second, the all-star race has notoriously been known as an event where teams bring bigger engines or other equipment that they normally wouldn’t use in a regular points-paying race.
Third, Long has a total of 23 Cup races under his belt, with an average qualifying/starting position of 36th and an average finish of 39th.
It’s not like he’s going to win tomorrow, oversized engine or not.
That’s why I question the penalties somewhat. When Chad Knaus or Tony Eury Jr. or Steve Letarte or Todd Berrier were previously caught for overt violations, the most time off they received at any one point – or for each infraction over the years – was a six-race suspension.
On the one hand, I’m glad to see NASCAR cracking down. If the Longs and Swing knowingly went to Charlotte last week thinking they could pull a fast one over NASCAR officials, they wound up being sadly mistaken.
And now they’ll have to pay the price, a rather hefty sum for such a small, barebones operation that was barely getting by.
Unlike the Jeremy Mayfield situation, NASCAR got this one right, without question.
Catch you Friday.
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