I know some are not going to like this take, but I got this from a comment on FB and maybe whomever wrote it is onto something:
Tony Stewart was one of the people that spearheaded that big money race in Bradenton. That is not an event put on by the NHRA and maybe they are pissed off about it, so they decided to "nitpick" on his team until they found something that could use an excuse to DQ or suspend him as a "get back." I'm sure you know someone - or maybe it happened to you - who was working at a job, everything was going swimmingly until a member of management decided they don't like him/her and started looking for any reason to let that person go. Same deal here.