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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.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/21 at 05:16 AMJerry,
I have to disagree with you,( this may be a first). NASCAR didn’t get it right, they made Long an example. With all respect to Carl, he is a “nobody” in the world of NASCAR. He could stand next to most anyone at the track, and no one would even know who he was.
The motor in question was blown during practice, and pulled from the car. A second motor was used for the race that did pass inspection. With as small an operation as Long has, where did the first engine come from? I doubt that he has his own engine shop. To slap such a penalty on a crew chief, driver and owner for a non-points race, for a motor that was used only during practice, seems just a little excessive to me.
That being said, I cannot wait to see Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Dale Jr, Carl Edwards, or any other “Big Name” driver, and crew chief, hit with a 12 race suspension for the next rules altercation. Let’s see how well NASCAR follows the president that it set in this case.
I have a conditional “I’m with you on this one”, Jerry: IF, and only if, NASCAR applies this punishment across the board next time someone is caught cheating, then yes, NASCAR “got this one right”. Because it makes absolutely NO sense for them to come down hard on on a nobody at the All-Star Race, and then come down lighter when there are actual points on the line.
I guess the analogue to this would be a batter getting busted with a corked bat or a pitcher getting caught scuffing the ball at the All-Star Game. Would MLB come down hard on them even though it was an exhibition game? Probably, under the “act that affected the integrity of the game” reasoning.
On the other hand, if NASCAR considers what Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte got caught doing in 2007, screwing around with the fenders on the COT, a minor infraction as compared to using an oversized engine, then I can understand the differing severity in penalties. Although when NASCAR introduced the full-time COT and stated that any attempt to cheat with this car would result in severe penalties, one would think that would include across-the-board penalties, not a sliding scale.
I guess we’ll find out if/when the next team gets busted. Who knows, maybe the prospects of a 12-race suspension would preclude Knaus and other crew chiefs from displaying the smug “I would do it again” attitude he had after his last suspension.
George, don’t forget, the driver should get the 12-race suspension as well…
Absolutely Taglia. I guess my main point was about NASCAR applying a 12-race suspension to both the driver AND the crew chief across the board as opposed to a sliding scale depending on the infraction.
I’m with you. Somehow, I don’t see it happening to a team, or car that has a full time sponsor.
Long has said that he purchased the engine from a “reputable builder”. After removing the engine and submitting the part to NASCAR, it was found to have a displacement of 358.17 cubic inches. That’s .17 cubic inches to large. So, using NASCAR’s own president, any item found on any car that is .17 inches or larger out of spec., should result in the 12-race suspension for driver, crew chief, 200, point loss to driver and owner and 200.000 fine.
Now I want someone to “work in the grey area”.
I disagree with you Jerry. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime here. Did Carl violate the rules? Yes. Did he deserve a penalty? Yes. Did he deserve a penalty this severe? No. 200 points is more than a driver gets for winning a points race. And as you mentioned this was a non points event and Carl had no chance of winning it even with that engine. $200k was about 4 times as much as Hornish got for winning that race. And as you mentioned, 12 weeks is twice as long as anyone has been suspended for a non drug related violation. If Carl was a repeat offender then I can understand the penalty but I believe that this was a first offense for him. What penalty are they going to levy for the next first time offender? 300 points, $400k and 24 races? I’m all for penalizing cheaters but this stuff is getting way too excessive.
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