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Many drivers own their own planes and use them for personal and professional travel. But with fuel at about $4.30 a gallon, Carl Edwards estimated it costs him $2,000 a trip to fill his airplane -- not worth it for a spur-of-the-moment vacation.

"It's expensive, and listen, I'm a real thrifty person and I have my budget for the year before the year starts," Edwards said. "I'm good. I planned for it. But I still have trouble doing it. I'd rather just go ride my bike to get a little outside time or just go down the river. It's way cheaper than jumping over to the Bahamas."

Many also consider themselves lucky to be at the highest level of racing. Fuel isn't free outside of NASCAR, and as high as the ARCA level, teams are paying for gas to get to the track and once they get there.

"When we were starting, it would have been really difficult for my dad and I and my buddies to go racing," Edwards said. "We'd go 150 miles each way every weekend, and it would have been really, really difficult to pay for that and all the gas at the track on top of it."

Tony Stewart has seen the pinch up close, from sagging attendance at the tracks he owns to helping the promoter at the dirt track in Talladega, Ala., dry the surface after a rain shower.

"I was down there with the track promoter just riding around in the pace car, helping try to run some of the water off the track," he said. "The hard thing is you have guys with Late Models rolling around trying to get the track [dry], and the racing gas there was $8 a gallon.

"To sit there and have those guys rolling around like that and burning fuel just trying to get the track back in shape -- you know that has to hurt."

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