James Carlyle "Carl" Long is a NASCAR race car driver and mechanic. In the past, he served as a mechanic for Spears Motorsports and Travis Carter Motorsports. He has a total of 49 career wins in racing.

Career leading to Sprint Cup

Long began racing in 1983 at Orange County and South Boston Speedway. He won the track championship at South Boston in 1987 and the Street Stock championship at Orange County in 1990. In 1992, he raced in NASCAR-sanctioned competition for the first time, earning Rookie of the Year honors at Orange County in the Winston Racing Series, and was awarded the Best Sportsmanship award the following season. After competing at various Winston Racing tracks in the 90's, he moved up to the Slim Jim All Pro Series in 1997, grabbing a win at Bristol Motor Speedway. In 1998, he began running ARCA and Craftsman Truck races for Mansion Motorsports. Most recently, he won the championship race at Orange County Speedway on November 12, 2006.

NASCAR Career 1999-2002

Long made his NASCAR debut in 1998 in the Craftsman Truck Series. at Bristol, starting 21st but finishing 31st after the engine in his #91 Mansion Motorsports Ford F-150 expired.

He began running the Cup races in 1999 with the #85 Mansion Motorsports team, but DNQ'd for every attempt throughout that year. He ran Bristol again the following year, in the Truck Series posting a career-best 9th place qualifying effort, as well as at Louisville Speedway, where he wrecked very early in the race. After more struggles in 2000, he finally qualified to make his Nextel Cup debut in one of its most prestigious races, the Coca-Cola 600. However, Darrell Waltrip, one of the top drivers in series history, who was retiring at the end of the 2000 season, failed to qualify. Long gave up his ride to Waltrip for the race. He made another truck race in 2000 at Texas, where he started 33rd but finished 17th in a truck fielded by Team 23 Racing. Long would eventually make his Cup debut at Dover, qualifying 42nd but finishing 41st after a crash on lap 12. He made one more start that year, at Rockingham Speedway, finishing 32nd. He ran three races in 2001, his best finish being a 29th at the UAW-GM Quality 500. He also made his Busch Series debut in 2001 in the Aaron's 312 at Atlanta. Driving the #49 for Jay Robinson Racing, Carl started 41st but came across handling problems during the race, relegating him to 42nd.

In 2002, Long ran for Rookie of the Year, but failed to earn the award mainly due to an incomplete season. Long attempted a group of the races, but failed to qualify for all except two. He started the season with Mansion Motorsports again, but when that team ran out of money, Long departed the team, originally to Glenn Racing, then to Ware Racing Enterprises, and then finally the #59 Foster Price team, with whom he finished 39th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In addition, he had a sixteenth-place start at Dover for Mansion in the Truck Series (during which Long ran in the Top 10 before an engine failure), and a 30th place finish at Richmond for Rick Ware in the Revival Soy truck.

2003 to Present

He made two Busch races in 2003 for Robert Creech, his best finish a 28th at Rockingham. He had another 28th at Rockingham the following year, as well as running the #07 for Moy Racing at Loudon, where his engine expired early in the race. He also ran another race for Ware at New Hampshire, but finished last. He made his first race as a team owner that season, when Matt Carter drove his #96 truck to a seventeenth place finish at Martinsville Speedway. After failing to make a Cup race in 2003, Long returned to the Glenn Racing Dodge in 2004. In their first race together, Long's car flipped several times in a violent accident at the final race ever held at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina, where such crashes are very uncommon. Long was uninjured, and the incident gained publicity for the virtually-unknown Long, whose popularity among the fans peaked to unprecedented levels, and also got him a ride in the following Cup event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driving for fellow independent Hermie Sadler. Long then drove at Pocono Raceway for the fledging McGlynn Racing operation, finishing 41st. After a final race for Glenn he ran two races with Hover Motorsports.

Long announced he would merge his #46 team with the McGlynn Racing team to run in 2005. Although he drove only the #00 from McGlynn, Long ran 9 races that year, and had a career-best qualifying effort of 20th at Atlanta. Unfortunately, sponsors wanted 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope to drive the car, which forced McGlynn to release Long. Long closed out the year running at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a personally owned chassis originally purchased from Petty Enterprises. The car was prepared in Stan Hover's shop with mostly volunteers, and a leased motor from Bill Davis Racing was dropped into the car. Unfortunately, a crash in qualifying ended his weekend prematurely. That season Long was also announced as a driver for a new team, Victory Motorsports, owned by Terance Mathis, but the team never ran.

In 2006, Long ran the #80 for Hover Motorsports at the Daytona 500, but missed the race. He attempted three races for R&J Racing but also failed to qualify for those events. He returned to the Busch Series, driving the #23 for Keith Coleman Racing in six races before being replaced, and also ran a Truck Series race for Jim Rosenblum Racing. He attempted a race at Bristol with Long Brothers Racing, but did not qualify. Long joined a new Nextel Cup team, Cupp Motorsports, in the #46 Millstar Tools Dodge. Long attempted three races for Cupp, but failed to qualify for each of them. He returned with help from McGlynn to attempt the Ford 400 at the end of 2006, but did not make the race.

In 2007, Long ran a limited schedule for Long Brothers Racing in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, posting a best finish of second. He ran two races for Carter 2 Motorsports in the Busch Series, before the team closed down. He attempted the 2008 Daytona 500 for E&M Motorsports with sponsorship from Millstar and Rhino's Energy Drink, but did not qualify. He began fielding his own car with Red Line Oil sponsoring in the Nationwide Series, making his first start of the season at Darlington Raceway.

Long attempted the 2009 Daytona 500 with sponsorship from Romeo Guest Construction, one of Long's first sponsors in the mid 1990s when he was competing in Late Models.

Long was suspended after a violation on his car during the 2009 Sprint All-Star Race weekend. Prior to his suspension, he was a crew member on the #34 Front Row Motorsports Cup team. He has driven for numerous independent teams in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series, as well as the Auto Racing Club of America.

In 2010, Long was named to drive the #01 Chevrolet for Daisy Ramirez's Truck Series team and the #68 Nationwide Series car for Fleur-de-lis Motorsports. For 2011, he drove for Rick Ware Racing in the Nationwide Series.

Carl Long still hurting from record $200,000 fine in 2009
by Bob Pockrass Sporting News - Saturday, Mar 16, 2026

Carl Long, who hasn�t raced in Sprint Cup since earning one of NASCAR�s harshest penalties in 2009, wishes he could be like Denny Hamlin and have his fine deducted from his race winnings. Unfortunately for Long, there are few races where he would be guaranteed to earn $200,000 for winning a race.

Long was fined a record $200,000 in May 2009 for having an engine that was 0.17 cubic inches over the regulation size during practice for the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Only the Daytona 500 has a purse where the last-place finisher could earn that much money, and that would be the bulk of the winnings. So it�s not feasible for Long to pursue the same avenue as Hamlin, who recently refused to pay his $25,000 fine and is forcing NASCAR to garnish his winnings.

Long�s crew chief was assessed the fine, but since it wasn�t paid, NASCAR put the burden on the team owner (Long�s wife) and then eventually on Long himself since the team no longer attempted to race. Transferring the fine to Long is within NASCAR rules, which allow for the deduction of fines from the purse of a driver or team owner. The rule would keep a team from firing a crew chief in hopes of not paying the fine.

Before his team shut down, Long said NASCAR offered to allow him to pay somewhere between $12,000-$16,000 a race to enter an event, pushing the entry fee to close to $25,000 a race. He said the fine soured his sponsor on the sport and possibly ended his Cup driving career after 23 starts in the series.

Long still wants to race in Cup � he can race and work in the Nationwide Series but has been banned from the Cup garage since the start of 2012 when he was asked to leave the Cup area at Daytona � and still talks to potential sponsors about possibly paying the fine. �The first thing that I tell them is look, �You give me a million and a half dollars, two million dollars to run the Nationwide Series and run a couple of Cup races, and the first thing we�ll do is we�ll take $200,000, make a press release, give the NASCAR Foundation a $200,000 check and you�ll make all the sports pages across the United States,�� Long said Friday. �They�re the good guys that clean the slate and let me go race.�

Fans who sent money for him to pay his fine contributed nearly $20,000, which Long offered to return or use to cover expenses for the Showdown race. Long said he�ll clear about $35,000 from working as a mechanic and driver in the Nationwide Series this year. He is working at the shop, as a part-time crew chief and hauler driver for Rick Ware Racing. Occasionally, he�ll drive, possibly even next week at Auto Club Speedway. �I can�t offer myself to a Cup team to make more money because I can�t go with them to the racetrack,� Long said.

Long said that people see him in the Nationwide garage and think he�s paid the fine or that it�s been waived. �People keep seeing me here and they�re like, �Did NASCAR just drop it and wipe it under (the rug?)�� Long said. �They�ve been pretty strong about their (feeling) that, �You owe us money.��

Absurd $200K Carl Long Penalty Upheld AolNews

If NASCAR was hoping the National Stock Car Racing Commission would bail them out of one of their biggest PR blunders in long while, it failed to do so. The appeals board upheld the 12-race suspension and $200,000 fine against part-time and even smaller-time driver Carl Long after the driver-owner -- one who makes roughly $100,000 per year -- was found to have an engine that was roughly one-sixth of an inch too big of the 358 cubic inch limit during last month's All-Star Race.

In doing so, NASCAR either ended or completely changed the course of Carl Long's real job as an employee for another team and left the impression of being the big bad brother who forgot where he can from. It's a story that many of you know by now and if you don't, here's a abridged summary.

Long decided to haul his race car to Lowe's Motor Speedway to compete in the Sprint Showdown, the qualifying race for the Sprint All-Star Challenge. He didn't have a shot at winning -- something he knew -- and was trying just compete and take home a few bucks to finance his racing operation. After previously filing the entry blank, Long arrived at the track to find out that NASCAR had changed the previously stated winnings amount for finishing last in the race. Instead of potentially pocketing $10k or so, Long's engine and other costs now outweighed what he was going earn.

Then, in Friday's practice for the race, he blew the now-famous engine. NASCAR rules mandate each engine changed during a weekend is inspected by the sanctioning body, or the team can leave the track. Long, who managed just the 31st-fastest time of 35 cars during the practice session, felt nothing was illegal about his engine and allowed NASCAR to check it. Long never saw the engine again because NASCAR confiscated it after measuring it and finding it to be .17 inches too big. An engine is measured based on volume of of the cylinders, meaning over the course of a NASCAR engine's eight cylinders, Long averaged a difference of roughly 1/48th of an inch.

And so, the gauntlet fell a few days later from NASCAR's penalty gurus. There's no doubting that the rules are the rules in this case, and somehow NASCAR was able to measure such a minuscule difference to confirm the engine was oversize. But while numbers are black and white, the factors that can expand an engine block blur that to a gray area. Remember, Long had blown the engine in practice, meaning that there was likely a ton of heat and pressure in the block. Add in the fact that the engine was purchased used from an engine supplier (Ernie and Bill Elliott) who had bought it used (from Ganassi Racing), and the conditions couldn't be more ideal to find an engine that had grown oversize (and according to Long, at least 50 horsepower less than his competition) by the slimmest of margins. Those slim margins, it seems, will be costing Long part of his career.

Aside from driving, Long works for both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series sides of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team. The appeals board reinstated Long into the Nationwide garage, but left him to serve the 12-race penalty and pay the car owner fine before he gets back to the Cup garage. Plus, he's down a race engine worth a few thousand bucks.

The appeals board did get it right in that they said they can't adjust penalties based on the size of a race team. You can't question that. But what you can question is that Long had absolutely no intention to skirt the rules and that the alibi for the engine being bigger than it should was nearly faultless.

NASCAR's a sport that is built by black and white to find out who wins, but that is governed often by a large set of judgment calls. In this case, their judgment call and lack of flexibility to understand that Long wasn't trying to cheat just was plain wrong.

And for that, you've got to feel for a guy who does all he can to follow a dream of his to only have it all swept away.

By one-sixth of an inch.

►Career Highlights:

1983 - Started Racing Career at South Boston and Orange County Speedway

1987 - Won Track Championship at South Boston Speedway

1990 - Track Champion at Orange County Speedway in Street Stocks

1991 - 2nd in Points With 3 Wins at Orange County Speedway

1992 - Winston Racing Series Rookie of the Year at Orange County Speedway

1993 - Best Sportsmanship Award at Orange County Speedway

1994 - 3 Poles and 18 Top 5's Racing at Different Winston Touring Series Tracks

1995 - 5 Poles and 2 Wins at Orange County and South Boston Speedways finishing in the top ten in points at both tracks, starting in only half of the races, due to touring other tracks

1997 - Drove the #15 Austin Foods Chevy in NASCAR's Slim Jim All Pro Series. Scored 1 win at Bristol. The only rookie to win in 1997

1998 - Drove in the Truck Series and ARCA for Mansion Motorsports

1999 - Drove for Mansion Motorsports in the Truck Series, ARCA, and Winston Cup Series. Won super late model races at Southern National Speedway

2000 - Made first career Winston Cup race with Mansion Motorsports at Charlotte, made 3 total Winston Cup races. Raced in ARCA and winning in local super late model races

2001 - Made 3 Winston Cup races with Mansion Motorsports Dodge. Records best Winston Cup Start & Finish after switching to Dodge. Made first career Busch race. Raced in 2 USAR Pro Cup races

2002 - Made 2 Winston Cup races and 2 Craftsman Truck races with various Dodge teams. Won the International Truck Challenge Event at Lowes Motor Speedway (the tractor trailer driving competition for the race team's transporter drivers)

2003 - Tested with Petty Enterprises at Daytona. Worked for Travis Carter Enterprises Winston Cup team #66 and #54. Raced in Cup, Busch, and Truck Series

2004 - Made six NEXTEL Cup races, a career high; including both races at Pocono. Made 2 Busch races; recorded career best Busch Series start and finish, both at Rockingham. Made national news headlines when flipped his only car over at Rockingham in the Cup race

2005 - Made nine NEXTEL Cup races with McGlynn Racing. Long recorded two top-25 starts, including a career-best 20th at Atlanta. Carl also qualified for both Bristol and Dover events on the schedule

2006 - Qualified for Bristol NEXTEL Cup race in Fall. Also qualified for six Busch Series races, one Truck Series race at Charlotte, and one Hooters Pro Cup race at Bristol. Long won the championship late model race at Orange County Speedway

2007 - Qualified for 3 ARCA races, with a top 10 finish at Gateway. Also qualified for 2 Nationwide Series races. Ran 8 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series races, with a 2nd place finish at Concord

2008 - Qualified for 2 Nationwide Series races, including one with his own start-up Nationwide team. Also finished on the lead lap in the Sprint Showdown. Ran full USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series schedule, with one top 5 and 3 top 10's

2009 - Started 2nd in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Showdown due to qualifying being rained out and the field set by the qualifying draw
Career Wins: 49

from: www.CarlLongMotorsports.com

Career leading to Sprint Cup

NASCAR Career 1999-2002

2003 to Present

Absurd $200K Carl Long Penalty Upheld AolNews

Sprint Cup All Star race results

Daytona 500 Qualifying race results