FanHouse Carl Long

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.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR has a "town hall meeting" scheduled with its drivers next week.

The sport's longtime rival, Bruton Smith, held one of his own Saturday.

Smith, the outspoken, multimillionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., ripped NASCAR for choosing not to disclose the banned substance involved in driver Jeremy Mayfield's suspension, for dropping record penalties on underfunded driver Carl Long and for the kind of racing created with the Car of Tomorrow.

NASCAR dusted off the ol' penalty paddle Wednesday, and did so in historic form.

Carl Long, a part-time driver that has likely sold fewer team T-shirts in his career than Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car number old or new, was slapped with a $200,000 fine after NASCAR found his engine to be too big during last weekend's All-Star festivities.

The dollar figure was the largest ever docked by the sanctioning body, and very easily could end Long's racing career.