Tony Stewart angry with NASCAR over recent penalties to Stewart-Haas Racing

Stewart refuses to talk about penalties to his race team, including a race manipulation penalty for Cole Custer's team

Through the years, Tony Stewart has given us memorable soundbites when he's been angry at something or with someone. Which makes it all that more notable when he opts to not say anything.

With his Stewart-Haas Racing team receiving two major penalties from NASCAR in the past two weeks -- including one that has made them the subject of a team orders scandal -- Stewart alluded to his anger with NASCAR while speaking to reporters at Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday. Stewart spoke at his fantasy racing camp to benefit Speedway Children's Charities on his way to this weekend's NHRA Texas Fall Nationals.

"I'm not going to talk about it," Stewart said in a report by the Associated Press. "I'm so mad at NASCAR right now, I'm not talking about it... 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."

The first penalty to draw Stewart's ire was to SHR's No. 4 team following Talladega. After NASCAR deemed that the team had illegally altered the vendor-supplied decklid of their car, crew chief Rodney Childers was given a four-race suspension while Kevin Harvick and his team were docked 100 driver and owner points. Stewart-Haas Racing filed an appeal of the penalty that they have since dropped.

Then, NASCAR ruled Tuesday that Cole Custer and his team manipulated the outcome of last weekend's playoff elimination race at the Charlotte Roval, with Custer receiving what NASCAR believed was a coded directive to dramatically slow down and hold up a line of traffic in order to help teammate Chase Briscoe make the Round of 8. Custer and his team were docked 100 driver and owner points, and crew chief Mike Shiplett has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR.

Stewart-Haas Racing has appealed the penalties and vehemently denyied any malfeasance in a statement released Wednesday.

"Stewart-Haas Racing denies any wrongdoing and will vigorously defend its personnel against these allegations in its appeal with NASCAR," read a statement by Greg Zipadelli, SHR chief competition director.

Much of Stewart's current attention outside of NASCAR has been devoted to his NHRA team, which fields a car in each of drag racing's top two divisions.