Helio Castroneves, a 3-time Indianapolis 500 winner, has been fined $30,000 for a tweet directed at IndyCar race director Brian Barnhart.

Castroneves used the microblogging service to complain about a penalty he received in the final lap during his race in Japan, reports USA Today. During the race, Castroneves was dropped to 22nd place after coming in 7th because of a pass he made under yellow. Though he did admit the pass was illegal, he believed that he shouldn’t have been penalized so severely. The TV broadcast had ended before Castroneves found out about the call, so he took to Twitter to show his followers how disappointed he was.

The offending tweet, which has since been deleted, compared Barnhart to a clown. He tweeted “Making the famous @paultracy’s words mine: Brian Barnhart is a circus clown!” and “Very disappointed for finishing 7th and being put to 22nd. This is just ABSURD !!!” in a series of updates complaining about the call.

He also slammed Barnhart, calling him inconsistent for only penalizing some drivers and accused him of changing the rule book when it was convenient. He said the director was “bringing down an entire series.”

Castroneves was fined (which he can either pay or appeal) and put on probation for his comments, making him the first driver in the series to be reprimanded over statements placed on Twitter, but he’s hardly first in professional sports. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was suspended over comments he made on the microblogging service and Tennessee Titans Receiver Kenny Britt ran into trouble when a hacker allegedly accessed his Facebook account and slammed the NFL Commissioner.