Tag Archives: Carl Long

Sunday was a long day in Long Pond, PA, as only a few teams really had their cars hooked up to handle the tricky triangle that is Pocono Raceway. While positive storylines like the implementation of double-file restarts and Tony Stewart’s march from the back of the pack to win his first race as an owner permeated the day, the same old song of single-file racing at the front of the pack was set to loop. The only chance for some teams to find success at Pocono was by gambling on fuel mileage, which garnered top 10 finishes for Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya. Unfortunately, teams high in the points that are not worried about falling out of Chase contention, like Tony Stewart’s, Carl Edwards’, and Jeff Gordon’s also tried the same strategy and came out on top. Here are the *HOT*, *WARM*, and *COLD* teams after the conclusion of the Pocono 500.

Tony Stewart’s guys got him out on the track first after the last caution flag pit stop. Stewart nursed an incredible 41 laps out of a tank of fuel to hold onto victory.

Carl Long, we are with you bud. Just so you know, there are a lot of long-time fans of the sport out here that are appalled by the situation you find yourself in. Thank you for fighting the good fight and speaking frank on the subject. We don’t get that a lot, but whether out of anger or because what you said needed saying, you didn’t back down. I understand that rules must govern a body. However, it befuddles me when an entity like NASCAR, which has a long and storied history of operating within the “gray area” in matters of its rules enforcement, would suddenly go so “black and white” on a guy like Long.

Much like Lloyd Christmas in Dumb & Dumber, just when you didn’t think NASCAR could do anything more asinine than they have as of late, “they go out of their way and totally redeem themselves!” – i.e., out do even themselves yet again. Carl Long, who two weeks ago was …

The National Stock Car Racing Commission listened to Carl Long’s appeal of his fines and suspensions that stemmed from the All-Star weekend, and issued a ruling yesterday. While the Commission acknowledged that Long’s testimony was “genuine and heartfelt” and “expressed a strong love of racing and a desire to compete …

*Did You Notice?* … That at the end of a provocative, fantastic "interview by ESPN’s Marty Smith,":http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=4225487 Carl Long took a swipe at NASCAR worth expanding on. In case you hadn’t heard, Long lost his appeal of an oversized engine penalty on Tuesday, meaning not only is he stuck with a 12-race suspension from the Cup Series, but his crew chief remains responsible for a record $200,000 fine. If the duo doesn’t pay it (Long refuses to let his head wrench, Charles Swing, fall on the sword on his own), they won’t be racing in NASCAR as of February 2010. The fine leaves Swing without a license and Long’s team in irrecoverable financial difficulty. The decision amounted to a brow-raising move from the NSCRC, especially considering the difficulties small teams are having even staying in business to begin with. But when Smith asked Long about the future of blue-collar, independent organizations like him, he got bluntly honest ...

*How does David Reutimann's win in the Coca-Cola 600 rate among the great upsets in NASCAR history? And does it salvage what, to that point, had been a rain-soaked, inconsistent 340-mile mess left at the mercy of Mother Nature?* Kurt: A great upset? I never thought of it like that. Casey Mears' win would have be an upset then? Amy: I don't know if I'd call it one of the greatest upsets, because it wasn't as if Reutimann won it under green. But it was a neat victory, and props to that team for playing thee strategy cards just right.

*Longing for Leniency* You know that big senior bully who picks on the little freshman in high school? That’s what NASCAR has been accused of on several occasions in the past month with the suspensions of Jeremy Mayfield and Carl Long. The recent 12-week, $200,000 fine for Long's engine that was a fraction of an inch too big has crippled the income of the longtime part-time driver. After the appeals process is over – which given NASCAR’s history is unlikely to be overturned – Long will be shunned from the garage for the length of his suspension, preventing him from being a Nationwide Series crewman as well.

Carl Long was spotted in the NASCAR Cup garage at Charlotte this weekend. He is assisting the No. 34 team. NASCAR agreed to let him into the garage while his penalty is under appeal. The appeal should be heard in two weeks.

Do any of you remember that Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman movie _Wag The Dog_ ? The plot of the movie was that in order to cover up a sex scandal involving the President prior to an election, a Hollywood producer comes up with a plan to fabricate a fictional war on television, keeping the scandal off the front page of the paper and deflecting public attention from it. Truth apparently is stranger than fiction and life imitates art -- Bill Clinton essentially did the same thing a year later after it was discovered that he had a thing for thick chicks in blue dresses and cigars. Anyways, you get my point. Now, fast forward a decade later, and the same thing appears to be happening in NASCAR.