Tony Stewart’s SHR Has Paid Nearly $600,000 in Less Than a Year in NASCAR Fines

The last time Stewart Haas Racing, the NASCAR team co-owned by Tony Stewart, received a penalty, Smoke had gone wild with his frustrations. It didn’t take long for the team to receive a fresh set of penalties, but this time they were imposed on their Xfinity Series team. The car numbered #00 driven by Cole Custer was the one that had been caught this time.

NASCAR had announced a couple of weeks ago that they were issued an L1 level penalty following the race at Michigan Raceway. Earlier, NASCAR had confiscated the front spitter for Custer’s car.

Following the investigation, they alleged that the team had violated the Xfinity Series Rule Book, specifically sections 14.4.3 C & H. The rule had apparently made it clear that the front spitter was not to be modified “except as specified” and was to be used as supplied by the manufacturer.

How big of a financial dent have the penalties been on Tony Stewart since last year? 

This is not the first time SHR has been facing the brunt of points deductions and fines. Just earlier this year, their Cup team was handed a massive penalty for using counterfeit parts. The announcement was made after the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Chase Briscoe received a $250,000 fine along with a 120 points dock from the regular season. Furthermore, NASCAR also took away 25 playoff points from Briscoe. Last year too, SHR’s #4 team was handed a $100,000 fine and a 100-point penalty as well as a $200,000 fine, both in the course of a week.

Fast forward to the present day, the team received a $25,000 fine for the infringement, as well as a 20 points dock from the regular season points. So considering both instances, the financial burden of having their teams constantly under fire from NASCAR has amassed to quite some unnecessary expenditure.

Furthermore, considering that the team would prefer to spend their budget on the performance side of things, having repeated incidents of financial penalties is not going to help their case.

NASCAR fans can’t fathom Tony Stewart’s team’s luck after second penalty

Meanwhile, after the announcement of their Xfinity Series team being handed a penalty for cheating, fans across the NASCAR fanbase took note and spared no quarter to the awful situation SHR had found themselves in once again.

Thankfully, the points deduction will not affect Custer’s standings. Nor will it hamper their owner’s standings. Custer will remain in the 4th place in the playoff standings, but will only fall behind John Hunter Nemechek in the regular season standings.