Associated Press

File 2008 Carl Long lost his appeal of a 12-race suspension and penalty. Long has been unable to pay the $200,000 fine, so he's still unable to race.

Carl Long wonders when he'll race again, as he washes someone else's Sprint Cup car. This might be as close as he gets to competing again in NASCAR's top series.

His suspension served for an oversized engine, Long hasn't found a ride. The only offer was with a Nationwide team that wanted him to pull into the garage shortly after the start of the race. Start and park is what it's called.

His own team isn't an option. It can't run until it pays NASCAR $200,000 to cover the fine. Long can't afford that. Donations from fans in 44 states and four countries cover only 1/10th of the fine.

So, Thursday Long was at the Front Row Motorsports shop near Statesville, N.C., washing the car John Andretti drove at Watkins Glen last week. The night before, Long helped put the decals on Andretti's car for Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway, another race Long will not compete.

"Basically, the message to me is that NASCAR doesn't want me in Cup,'' Long says during a break about the fine.

"My motivation to go race has never been this weak. Even when I was a 6-year-old kid playing with Matchboxes and Hot Wheels, I always wanted to race. I've always tried to find a way to race.''

Few fans noticed Long until May's All-Star race weekend when his engine was found to be too large. NASCAR allows a maximum of 358 cubic inch displacement for engines. Long's engine was found to be 358.197 cubic inch displacement.

NASCAR fined his crew chief $200,000 and suspended Long and his wife [listed as the team's owner] for 12 races. Since the crew chief couldn't pay the fine, the team assumed that penalty.

Many fans decried the penalty. They viewed the sport as picking on a low-budget driver, one who delivered pizzas to fund his racing early in his career and later dug through trash for spare parts.

NASCAR, though, has a long-standing policy of issuing severe penalties for infractions involving tires, fuel or the engine. Richard Petty received one of the largest fines at the time, $35,000, for an oversized engine in 1983. NASCAR docked Junior Johnson's team $45,000 for an unapproved engine part in 1995. The fine climbed to $50,000 for a similar infraction in 1999 to Felix Sabates' team.

Two years ago, NASCAR fined Michael Waltrip's crew chief $100,000 for illegal fuel, along with indefinitely suspending him and the team's vice president of competition and docking the team and its driver 100 points.

The National Stock Car Racing Commission, which heard the first of Long's two appeals, explained why it sided with NASCAR in this case: "While it is tempting to consider penalties that this driver and team can more-readily bear, the sport would not be well served by having a sliding scale of penalties calibrated to a given team or member's resources.''

Another appeal resulted in Long's suspension reduced from 12 to eight races, but the fine remained.

"This has probably ... [been] the worst three months of ever having stuff go wrong,'' says the 41-year-old who has driven in 23 Cup races since 2000.

His woes started when he bought a used jet boat and the motor blew while he was in Lake Norman, N.C. Then came the all-star event where he blew both his engines and the infraction was discovered.

"Then my pick-up truck, that motor blew up,'' he says. "My washing machine motor went out. I don't know what the [heck] else is going to happen. It seems like everything mechanical around me gets to failing.''

He laughs.

What else is there to do?

The Roxboro, N.C., native is open to racing in anything from ARCA to Late Models. Fans have tried to help. They've contributed from 50 cents to $500.

Dan Harvey of Lebanon, Tenn., gave $500 and says the motorcycle club he's in is looking into a poker run to help raise more money. Harvey had never met Long. They've talked since. Harvey's respect for Long grows as does his anger toward NASCAR.

"Shame on NASCAR,'' Harvey says.

George Miezejewski of Chesapeake, Va., read about Long's fine and was incensed. He donated $25.

"What they did to him was not fair and not right,'' Miezejewski said.

The money comes in at a slower pace now. Long likely won't be able to pay the fine unless he gets a sponsor. That's not likely in this economic climate. Thus, he faces another question: What to do with the fan donations if it doesn't cover the fine?

"If I have to I may have to send it back to the people who sent it if I don't think there's a way we can use it for the purposes they wanted me to use it for,'' Long says.

Soon, work beckons. He finishes washing the car. Then it's off to replacing the gas tanks on the team's hauler. This keeps him close to the sport, but then, he sees what he can't have.

Note: Staff writer Dustin Long is not related to Carl Long.