NASCAR Nationwide Series
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SPENCER: Consistency Needed On Penalties
Elliott Sadler got the short end of the stick in the Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis...
Jimmy Spencer  |  Posted August 02, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was supposed to be a historic event. It was memorable alright – but only for the glaring inconsistencies in NASCAR’s judgment calls.

The debacle at the Brickyard tops my list of NASCAR being all over the place with its restart rules. On a late-race restart, Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish Jr., in the Nos. 22 and 12 cars, tried to get an advantage on the Nos. 2 and 3 cars, driven by Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon. However, it didn’t go quite as Keselowski and Hornish planned. Hornish bumped his teammate and got him a little loose, causing him to spin his tires and lose momentum. That catapulted Sadler ahead of Keselowski and made it look as if Sadler had jumped the restart. However, he just got a better start than the Penske Racing drivers, who simply messed up.

NASCAR didn’t see it that way, though, and gave Sadler a pass-through penalty. The sanctioning body later said Sadler did not jump the restart but beat the No. 1 starter to the line. They explained that Sadler should have given the spot back to Keselowski.

Huh? Racers don’t give up spots. They don’t give them back. They take them or they don’t deserve to be called racers. Not only that, but had Sadler lifted to give the position back, he would have caused one of the biggest wrecks in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Maybe NASCAR officials didn’t review all the camera angles or their replay button broke. They totally botched the call. Sadler did nothing wrong. Heck, that’s even what they ruled back at Phoenix in 2010 when the players in question were Keselowski and Kyle Busch instead of Sadler and Keselowski. At Phoenix, Busch was the leader with Keselowski in second. Keselowski beat Busch to the start but instead of throwing the black flag for Keselowski, NASCAR said Busch didn’t get up to speed in time, relieving Keselowski of any blame. Then a few laps later, the tables were turned. Busch was second and Keselowski leading on another restart. What do you know? The same thing happened but NASCAR penalized Busch that time.

Where is the consistency in that instance?

Fast forward to last weekend, and you’ve got the same situation. Why can’t they be constant in their calls? Make a rule and stick to it, but please quit doling out these judgment calls that mysteriously seem to go in Keselowski’s favor each time.

NASCAR had center stage at American motorsports’ most revered track but made the wrong call in the Sadler situation. Fans were confused. Drivers and teams were confused. Everyone was wondering why in the heck Sadler was penalized. His innocence was evident even to the most casual NASCAR fan.

A late penalty cost Elliott Sadler a likely victory in the Nationwide Series race at Indy. (Photo: Getty Images)
NASCAR should have done something to try to make it right during the race. Remember back at Rockingham in 1995 when NASCAR said the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing crew didn’t get all the lugnuts on the No. 3 car and penalized Dale Earnhardt? It turned out the lugnuts were all on and tight, so NASCAR gave The Intimidator his lap back. That’s the only time I remember that happening, but Saturday would have been a good time to try it again and fix what they did to Sadler.

While Sadler was the big loser Saturday, Jimmie Johnson was the big winner in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, and the competition better look out. The No. 48 team that won five consecutive championships appears poised for their sixth, and when they get that momentum and confidence up, there’s no stopping them.

When Johnson kisses the bricks at Indy, he usually ends up kissing the Sprint Cup Series championship trophy a few weeks later. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won the Brickyard 400 in three of his five championship seasons. I’ll take those odds any day.

If nothing else, we know he’ll be a prominent contender in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Any team that can dominate at Indy like the No. 48 did definitely has its stuff together. Indy is one of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR schedule, and I also think it’s one of the most demanding on a driver mentally. While there are four official turns at Indy, there really are eight turns a driver must negotiate each lap. He or she cranks the wheel eight times per circuit, so that’s eight opportunities to make a mistake each lap.

Johnson, however, rarely makes a mistake. Maybe NASCAR should take a page out of his book.

Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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