Tony Stewart ‘mad’ at NASCAR; Looking for a new hobby

Tony Stewart angered with NASCAR after $300k in fines

Tony Stewart is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. These days, the 51-year-old is the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing which fields teams in the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series.

Stewart-Haas Racing has had a wild couple of weeks. A series of penalties have been expensive.

Talladega Penalty: $100,000 fine

After Talladega Superspeedway, Kevin Harvick was handed an L2 penalty following the teardown of the car at the NASCAR R&D Center. NASCAR stated the issue was related to modifications of a stock part. It was apparently the rear deck lid that was in question.

The penalty after Talladega brought a penalty of 100 driver points as well as 100 owner points. Additionally, crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 and suspended for four races.

Initially, Stewart-Haas Racing announced plans to appeal the penalty. That appeal has since been retracted as they have bigger issues…

Kevin Harvick penalized 100 points after Talladega Superspeedway

Charlotte Roval Penalty: $200k in fines issued

Tony Stewart and Cole Custer
Tony Stewart and Cole Custer (Photo: Terrin Waack | NASCAR Digital Media)

One week later, SHR driver Chase Briscoe found himself in a last lap battle to make the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs. With fresher tires than most in the field, he was charging through the pack, picking off 1 point at a time.

Entering the backstretch, Cole Custer abruptly slowed as his crew chief jumped on the radio to say, “I think we got a flat tire. Slow up, we got a flat tire. Check up, check up.”

However, all four tires were clearly up. Custer is a teammate to Briscoe and Briscoe was closing in on him at the time.

After Briscoe passed Custer, the team jumped on the radio, “You’re ok, keep coming.”

NASCAR reviewed the team audio. They issued $200,000 in fines to Stewart-Haas Racing. Driver Cole Custer was fined $100,000. Crew chief Michael Shiplett was fined another $100,000 and suspended indefinitely.

Stewart-Haas Racing announced plans to appeal the penalty, for the second time in about a week.

“Stewart-Haas Racing denies any wrongdoing and will vigorously defend its personnel against these allegations in its appeal with NASCAR,” Greg Zipadelli, Chief Competition Officer for SHR stated.

NASCAR issues huge fine to Stewart-Haas after race manipulation (Team Audio)

SHR Co-Owner Tony Stewart is mad
AJ Allmendinger, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch - LA Coliseum - NASCAR Cup Series
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #16 chevyliners.com Chevrolet, NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, talk on the track prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at Los Angeles Coliseum on February 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

On Monday, Tony Stewart vented a bit on twitter, “Looking for a new weekend hobby (something not south eastern based) if anyone has any ideas. Something low drama and relaxing preferably.”

NASCAR headquarters is the subliminal south eastern reference.

“I’m not going to talk about it,” Stewart said. “I’m so mad at NASCAR right now, I’m not talking about it.” Tony Stewart told AP.

“If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve got a couple of appearances that I have to make, I wouldn’t be in another NASCAR race the rest of the year. Wouldn’t waste my time,” Stewart added.

Stewart dabbles in a long list of hobbies. He owns a dirt sprint car series, a World of Outlaws team, a dirt track and most recently an NHRA team.

Tony Stewart house for sale in Indiana (Video Tour)

NASCAR hauler involved in crash en route to Las Vegas (Video)

Links

Cole Custer | Chase Briscoe | Charlotte Motor Speedway | NASCAR

Categories

Tags