RELATED: Hear what Kes had to say | Watch the restart
Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer, said Monday that he disagreed with criticism lobbied by Brad Keselowski, who became the first driver penalized by the sanctioning body's renewed emphasis on restart management Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
O'Donnell's remarks came in a Monday morning debrief with NASCAR.com the day after the second event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.
NASCAR issued Keselowski a pass-through penalty on Lap 242 of Sunday's Sylvania 300 after series officials ruled he had inched ahead of leader Greg Biffle on the final restart. Keselowski dropped from second place to 25th after the penalty but rallied to finish 12th.
In a post-race interview with NBCSN, Keselowski voiced his displeasure, saying, "It's a pretty basic understanding. It's an entertainment sport, not a fair sport," comments that O'Donnell later dismissed.
"I think that was a heat of the moment comment from Brad," O'Donnell said. "I would look at what we've said in the past, is drivers are certainly going to disagree with the calls we make and that's OK. I disagree with Brad's comments. I think we make this as fair as possible each and every race. We've got to make calls, and no one's going to agree with every call we make. … We'll certainly have a conversation just about where we want to go and what are some of his thoughts. That's our job to listen as well, but we've got to make calls.
"I'd expect drivers to have some passion. That's what they do. This is world-class racing and there's a lot on the line. Passion is something that really drives us overall."
RELATED: No. 2 black-flagged after restart
Keselowski's No. 2 Ford was ahead of Biffle's No. 16 Ford at the start/finish line when green-flag racing resumed on the final restart, but Keselowski was unable to complete the pass once the field shuffled out. Replays showed Keselowski gaining an advantage, but also showed Biffle maintaining a slower pace in the restart zone, causing three cars behind him in the outside lane to stack up and make slight contact.
O'Donnell explained NASCAR's judgment, referring to the series' repeated reminders leading up to and during the race.
"It really starts in the drivers' meeting where we talk about restart rules repeatedly, and it's the leader's prerogative to restart the race in the restart zone," O'Donnell said. "We repeat that to the drivers, we reiterate that over the radio during any caution or restart to tighten the field, and what we saw in this case was Greg Biffle had the option to start the race and really wasn't given the opportunity to do so within that restart zone and in our opinion, utilizing the additional technology we've put forth with cameras and personnel on the ground, we made the call and believed the 2 jumped the restart and went ahead of the 16 in this case."
Restarts have come into greater focus in recent weeks, with Matt Kenseth 's unpenalized jump of Joey Logano in the regular-season finale at Richmond becoming a turning point in NASCAR's governance of the procedure. After that event, NASCAR dedicated a camera and a senior official to monitor the restart zone for the duration of the Chase playoffs.
O'Donnell has said in the past that he would like to leave restarts in drivers' hands, but that the sanctioning body would step in if it needed to make a ruling. He said he planned to speak with Keselowski later Monday to discuss the procedure and solicit his feedback.
"It's our job to utilize all the technology we have available to us and make the call," O'Donnell said. "Not everyone is going to agree with that. There's a ton on the line each and every race, and so ultimately we've got to make a call. It's difficult to do, but that's our job. We'll certainly seek feedback from the drivers. We'll talk to Brad obviously today, get his feedback, which I'm sure we'll disagree but that's part of it, and then we'll head into Dover."