What is your take on Carl Long's comments about his suspension, and thoughts on the higher-up's in NASCAR?

May be...

Whether or not he was a threat to win doesn't excuse the fact that he broke a rule that has no gray area and NASCAR has always said don't break it.

Where would you draw the line as to where they suck enough to not follow the rules? Micheal Waltrip isn't a treat to win can he cheat? What about someone like Robby Gordon who doesn't run very well on ovals but is always a threat on road courses. Can he cheat on 1 but not the other?

Making the rule book black and white is the most fair. You get rid of the fans crying that NASCAR plays favorites when their driver gets a penalty but someone else didn't.

I'd say suspend him from driving, cut the fine, and let him go back to his normal NASCAR job.

excuse my terminology, but NASCAR is run like the Nazis when it comes to penalizing some of these guys for what they're doing. I am amazed how NASCAR can inspect these cars so thoroughly. I appreciate when car builders push the limits, but at the same time I just cringe when NASCAR hands down the guilty verdict.

I agree with him...I don't think Brian France cares so much about the sport as he does just making money anyway he can from it. It's not like Carl Long was a big shot driver contending for wins every week.

As the realization that the National Stock Car Commission on Tuesday upheld the record 200-point, $200,000 penalty against him sunk in, Carl Long became increasingly frustrated. Frustration turned to anger. In minutes, he was livid. "Big Bill [France, NASCAR founder] and Bill Jr. ruled the sport like a father -- at the end of the day they took care of their family," Long said. "These guys don't care. They don't have any heart. Basically, it seems like they don't care about the sport, they just want to make a dollar. I truly have a sour taste of the management in our sport. They've forgotten the roots of how this sport was created, and who are the people buying the tickets, sitting in the stands. The people in the stands are me." Multiple calls to NASCAR for comment were not immediately returned. When Long had to change engines prior to the Sprint Showdown, NASCAR surveyed the first engine and determined it to be illegal. He was confident entering Tuesday's appeals hearing. He thought he'd go in, plead his case, and come out with nothing more than a revamped concept of the lucrative engine-building-and-selling business in NASCAR. Not so.

...NASCAR is after the dollar.Every driver in the series is a threat to the high dollar teams.The Mayfields and Longs are little fish but in theory coulds bump a major team out of the field,hence the top 35 B.S.
Carl was right and is getting the "purple shaft with barb wire crosses"
Did he break a rule , Yes.
Did he maliciously do it, I don't think so,why give a "oversize engine" to NASCAR if you KNOW it is illegal.
I think every engine should be checked before and after the race. but hey only certain ones are checked at random.
But I basically agree with him and his thoughts.

I have to agree with Carl. Even though his engine was only .001 bigger than it was supposed to be, the intention behind it was not one of a cheater. If it had been a Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush, or any other big name car then yes, NASCAR could have looked at it the way that they did because those teams have the funds to race new engines whenever they need to. If one of them had a newer engine that was the same size difference as Carl's then I would expect NASCAR to punish them accordingly. But an underfunded team simply rebuilding an already over-used race engine surely deserves a little more credit than what they gave to Carl. The least that they could have done was reduce the fine, it's not too hard to tell when a race team is barely making it when a 200 point loss doesn't worry them nearly as bad a $200,000 fine.

I really have to agree with Mr. Long, I think the fine and suspension is way out of line for the Infraction that he committed.

But then again we are talking about the France Family, they Rule Nascar with an Iron Fist, and they figure they can do anything and change the Rules to suit themselves any time they want.

Which they have done on many an occasion,and we as Fans are supposed to just sit back and say and do nothing.

The villain in this is the engine builder E. E. He sold that engine knowing it was oversize or too close to the maximum to remain legal with wear or damage. He did it knowing Carl would never place high enough to get checked. For those that say .001 could have been a mistake don't understand the displacement rule.

The cubic inch spec for Nascar is 350. They are allowed up to 358 maximum including wear, overheating, temperature and tool/gage variances. That is the absolute maximum after a race, not the displacement they start at. The garage understands this, no one has been caught oversize in 10 years because they understand it.

E. E. certainly understands it too.

I wish Carl had no penalties. Too bad E. E. can't be penalized.

You summed up the situation pretty well I think. My biggest problem is how excessive the punishment seemed, in proportion to the infraction. Even with the high rulers of NASCAR only caring about bringing in more money, I just don't see how this helps them at all. If anything else it seems to be further hurting their image. Can't wait to see what the punishment is for the next time a driver breaks the rules. Is this the new standard, or does the punishment go up with each driver?

Although Parody shouldn't play a part in rules infractions you have to have a heart for Carl. It takes a lot just to qualify for a race and the fine outweighed the infraction especially for an All Star shootout that only had half the stands at Charlotte filled. Brian France has effed up everything he has touched just like Kelly Earnhardt(slash) Elledge yet in his world he thinks everything is peaches and cream. I like what Carl said and I agree. If he really wants to listen to the fans he needs to listen more often.

Nascar has forgetten it's roots. It's the little guy that got them to where they are today.

They could have easily sent a message by changing the fine to one dollar and still take the points. Why do they have to take 200 grand from someone that has nothing?

I, as a Nascar fan am disappointed. I thought better of Nascar than to hurt the little guy this bad. I realize that rules are rules and since they were caught in the wrong they should punished...but they just put the man out of the racing business.

i think it stinks. karl iz a guud driver and person. may be dale jr culd take up a collection for him at WR and help him get on his foots.

The penalty in view of how bad the infraction was seems excessive, especially since Long and his team didn't personally create the infraction. NASCAR took a baseball bat to the knees of one of the small fish (I know fish don't have knees, it's a metaphor). Seems that they are forgetting that a large percentage of the fan base are small fish and can identify with Long and this kind of thing is a big turn off. The economy is in the crapper and NASCAR's lack of compassion looks like just one more example of how the little guy just doesn't matter...and they wonder why viewer numbers are down.import palm into