Brad Keselowski incurs controversial penalty for jumping restart

For weeks NASCAR has repeatedly warned drivers it would act if its restart procedures weren’t followed, and on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway the sanctioning body did just that, penalizing Brad Keselowski.

Officials penalized second-place Keselowski for beating leader Greg Biffle to the restart zone that signifies when a race can resume. NASCAR issued Keselowski a pass-through penalty, requiring him to drive down pit road at 45 mph.

Keselowski contended that he didn’t jump the restart because he never passed Biffle, who maintained the lead, and that NASCAR made an example out of him. The sequence occurred on lap 242 of 300 and dropped Keselowski from second to 25th. He would rally to finish 12th.

“I got the chance to do something again for the first time: the first person to ever be penalized for jumping a restart when I didn’t pass anyone,” Keselowski said. So that’s a new one.

“It’s an entertainment sport, not a fair sport. But we had a great car.”

Following several controversial incidents where it appeared a driver had jumped a restart, NASCAR beefed up its officiating last week. An official was placed ground level at the edge of the restart zone, and a designated camera was focused on the area to better monitor it.

When the infraction occurred Sunday, NASCAR placed the restart “under review,” and after looking at replays officials concluded Keselowski violated the rule by accelerating ahead of Biffle. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck said the call was “clear-cut.”

“There’s a double red mark on the (outside) wall and there’s a single red mark on the wall,” Buck said. “The leader is the control car and has earned the right to restart the race. He must restart the race in that zone, and (Biffle) was the leader at that point. (Keselowski) restarted in the zone before (Biffle) did.

“We got 100 percent confirmation from our senior official on the ground, as well as what we saw on the tapes and the data that was available to us.”

Though Keselowski nudged ahead of him, Biffle didn’t think Keselowski gained any advantage and thought the restart was clean.

“I maintained my speed and I didn’t speed up or slow down and I took off when I felt like it was time for me to go,” Biffle said. “I wasn’t really paying that close attention to (Keselowski) or what he was doing. We were pretty even getting down into Turn 1. ... I feel bad for Brad.”

Keselowski is part of the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff field. The 2012 series champion is 16 points above the cut-line entering the Round 1 elimination race next weekend at Dover International Speedway. NASCAR drops the lowest four ranked drivers without a win every three races.

“I’m really proud of my guys to come back and get a top-12 out of that without getting another yellow or catching any other breaks after the black flag,” Keselowski said. “It was a heck of a rebound. ... Got a solid finish that hopefully will make our Dover a little bit easier.”