Greg Biffle drives #16 3M Ford during practice for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Photo)

The teams can’t go back to their sponsors and ask for more money, either. “Their gas bill is up, too,” said Burton. “I think it’s fair to understand that everybody is having to deal with it. I don’t know that it’s fair to go back o the sponsors and say, ‘Hey, we had an unexpected expense,’ because I’m sure they’re having unexpected expenses as well.”

“When we go them and tell them we’re $400,000 upside down in fuel prices, they say, ‘Well, so are we,’” said Norris. “It’s true for UPS, it’s true for NAPA, it’s true for everyone.”

Even the highly compensated Sprint Cup drivers, many of whom are avid pilots, are getting hit hard in the wallet. “People are complaining about the price of gas at the pumps, but jet fuel has more than doubled,” said Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. “It hasn’t just gone up with the price at the pumps, and that hurts us. It costs more than double to commute now to the race tracks.”

“Our gas has gone from $2 a gallon to $8 a gallon, where the fuel pump has gone from $2 to $4,” said Biffle, who noted that his personal out-of-pocket fuel costs have risen $100,000 this year. “It’s just getting ridiculously expensive. Unfortunately, with our schedule, it’s a luxury, but yet at the same time it’s kind of mandatory for us to have private transportation. We’ve got to get to all of our commitments.”

As for the cost of flying himself, Biffle added, “It’s astronomical. It’s approaching spending as much money as you make on a weekend.”

Of course, not everyone is letting the high cost affect them. “It hasn’t impacted how much I fly,” said Denny Hamlin, who drives for JGR and flies his own airplane. “I just don’t ask how much it costs anymore.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to