April 6th, 2010 
T.C. While the haulers are headed for the Valley of the Sun, we’ve got a short batch of reader questions and answers for you. If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Ric:
Saw some pits at BMS that looked totally brown / tan in their square. Are some teams putting down that much cola all over the whole pit? Who has to clean that up after the race?
Yeah, most teams are starting to use just the soda syrup, and when you spray the whole stall down, that’s how it looks. If anyone does any cleanup, it’s the track itself. They may not worry about it though, and just let the rain take care of it. – T.C.
2. From Allen:
What are the entry fee’s for the Truck Series, Nationwide Series, and the Cup Series? I’ve heard for Cup it was around $80,000.
For the Cup Series they’re in the neighborhood of $3,700 per race. In the Nationwide Series the’y're around $1,300 and in the Truck Series they’re around $1,100. – Journo
3. From Eddie:
Have there been any airline or railroad company sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup Series?
The only one I can think of is Piedmont Airlines. They sponsored Ricky Rudd (during his stint at Richard Childress Racing) from 1982-1983 and Terry Labonte (in a car owned by Billy Hagan) from 1984-1986. – Journo
4. From yankeegranny:
What could be the cause of the smoke coming out of Kyle Busch’s car that the guys in the booth were speculating on in great detail? A couple of the announcers seemed to think it was some kind of an advantage??? What do you think???
The Gibbs cars have had that little puff of smoke in the corners for a while now. It has to do with how the engines are tuned. I can’t really tell you much more than that. If it does give them any advantage, it certainly is a small one, as the Gibbs cars don’t dominate. – T.C.
5. From Amy:
Most of the NASCAR races are measured in miles or laps…why is the Phoenix race different (it’s touted as a 600k). Do they have a reason? Or are they just being different?
Phoenix is exactly one mile in length, just like Loudon and Dover. At those other two tracks though, we only run a 300 and a 400 respectively. At Phoenix, a 600K equates to about 373 laps or 373 miles. The Subway Fresh Fit 373 doesn’t exactly sound very good. They call it a 600K because it makes the race name sound better with a nice round number, plus the race sounds like it’s longer. It’s a bit of a marketing ploy. Plus, I would imagine they decided that 300 laps is too few, and 400 laps is too many. - T.C.
6. From Mike:
Do the pit crews from different organizations ever challenge each other? I know crews under the same banner (Hendrick, etc) will have scrimmages, but I’m wondering if they have informal competitions during the off season. (Example: Roush vs. Stewart Hass) No money or trophies, just bragging rights. And maybe a round of beer.
Yeah, it’s not a real regular thing, but it does happen from time to time. I know that early in the year, some of the Hendrick guys had a little challenge with some of the Red Bull guys. Nothing like a little friendly competition! – T.C.
7. From Richard in NC:
Will Denny Hamlin have to demonstrate to NASCAR that he can get out of the car on his own (such as in the event of a fire) before they allow him to race again? I’m not sure now, but a few years ago F1 drivers had to demonstrate they could get out of the car on their own without a certain number of seconds before they were allowed to drive again after an injury.
As far as I know as long as he gets a release from his doctor, he’ll be free to drive the car. Throughout the history of the sport drivers have participated with worse injuries, though NASCAR probably wasn’t always informed. – Journo
And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!
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Eddie:
Have there been any airline or railroad company sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup Series?
US Air sponsored Greg sacks.
As far as airline sponsorship, USAir sponsored RaDiUs Motorsports with Ted Musgrave, Greg Sacks, Davy Jones and Bobby Hillin in the mid-90′s.
In regards to the question about airlines/railroads sponsoring cars U.S. Air was also a sponsor of Jasper Motorsports team for Greg Sacks and I think Davy Jones as well.
US Air sponsored a car during much of the 1990s, starting with Ted Musgrave in the #55 car in 1992 and continuing with the #77 for Greg Sacks, Bobby Hillin, Davy Jones and a couple others before Jasper Engines eventually took over sponsorship and ownership. I think Bobby Allison’s Busch cars were sponsored by Piper airplanes for several years, but Piper is a manufacturer rather than an airline. I can’t think of any railroads.
Re #5 – I read that the reason the Phoenix race was lengthened was because the track wanted the race to end under the lights. With the ealier start time mandadted by NASCAR, it was the only way to do that.
Re #3 – This is speculation. I imagine that one of the (probably many) reasons why airlines don’t sponsor a car is that while the airline would be associated with going fast, there is also the association with crashing, which is not a good image for a potential passenger.
Another reason is that it is standard practice or required for an airline to pull any advertising off the air (and I think in print), for so many (at least 48) hours after an airplane crash. If there was such an unfortuante incident during a race weekend, there might be issues with the car being shown on tv.
Re: #3 Piedmont also sponsored Sterling Marlin. He drove an Olds at the time.
Wasn’t Brad Keselowski sponsored by Edwards Air just a month ago?
Melissa: Indeed that’s true. Can you imagine if someone ripped apart their NASCAR car, and it had United or Southwest or whatever logos all over it? That mental image would be pretty damaging to the brand.
As far as railroads- do most railroads even advertise anywhere? Maybe trade magazines, but I don’t think they’re heavy advertisers.
Neon: You owe me a new keyboard, I was able to get the pop wiped off the screen ok, but the keyboard is trashed. My nose is still tingling from the pop fizz.