As Harrison Burton bathed in glory, some Daytona favorites languished in misery. Brad Keselowski is known to be a superspeedway expert, owning three victories at the tri-oval. He also owns six trophies from Talladega Superspeedway, the second-most at the Alabama track. Yet the RFK Racing driver’s return to Daytona turned sour in stage 3 – mostly spurred by NASCAR’s judicial wing.

Keselowski is already secure in the playoffs with his Darlington victory. Meanwhile, his teammate Chris Buescher is in dire straits, fumbling to maintain the 16th playoff spot. Nevertheless, Keselowski ended up unloading his emotions during the chaotic Coke Zero Sugar 400.

Radio sneak-peek into Brad Keselowski’s fury

The RFK Racing team started well in Daytona, with the No. 6 car at 12th and No. 17 at 13th. Yet the former seemed to be on a fiery streak. Brad Keselowski’s King’s Hawaiian Ford was the class of the field, leading three different times and rarely falling outside the top five and top 10. He pitted for fuel during the wrecks that unfolded on laps 61 and 141, the latter one allowing him a final dash to the checkered flag. However, things went haywire on a restart during stage 3.

With 16 laps to go, Brad Keselowski lined up on the front row for the restart. Austin Cindric‘s No. 3 car was marked to be the control car, but apparently, Keselowski got a little ahead of himself in the restart zone. In NASCAR’s eyes, the RFK driver accelerated first, as NASCAR Cup Series Event Director Jusan Hamilton said: “Restart’s under review.” Then No. 6 crew chief Matt McCall radioed in a crestfallen tone: “He’s trying to give us a restart violation.”

That prompted spotter T.J. Majors to remind Brad Keselowski that he has to obey the higher-ups’ judicial calling. “We’ve got to come do a pass-through (penalty) here, Brad.” However, the veteran driver could then be heard fuming vigorously: “Can they not see, he got hit from behind and spun his tires? I mean s–t, I can see it from my seat.” According to Keselowski, Cindric spun his tires on the restart, yet NASCAR would have none of that. “Got to be one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen,” stormed Keselowski.

Eventually, Brad Keselowski’s pass-through penalty on lap 147 severely axed his winning chances. Yet the No. 6 Ford battled back to salvage an 8th-place finish. This twisted turn of events resembles a lot like a race in 2015 when the same driver got a restart penalty, which even the beneficiary protested.

Not the first time for Keselowski

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Unlike Brad Keselowski’s claims that it was a bad call, NASCAR’s restart penalty did not receive protests from others. Yet nine years ago, the sanctioning body’s decision for the same driver attracted opposition even from the driver who stood to benefit. In the 2015 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Keselowski got into trouble on lap 243. Greg Biffle was the race leader and entered the restart zone with Keselowski side-by-side. Yet soon after the latter seemed to jump ahead of the second restart line.

After NASCAR slapped Keselowski with a restart violation, the then-Team Penske driver made a cutting remark. “It’s a pretty basic understanding. It’s an entertainment sport, not a fair sport, but we had a great car.” Even Biffle defended Keselowski’s move, comparing it with another more glaring incident- “You can look at that restart and Brad and I were even going into Turn 1. I think the restarts people were complaining about was (Matt Kenseth) at Richmond, when he was 2 ½ car lengths ahead of the field going into Turn 1 – that’s where we need supervision. There is going to be gamesmanship and we need that. Let us have our fun in the (zone) as long as it’s relatively even. Give us a quarter of a fender or something.”

Evidently, Brad Keselowski has had his fair share of restart punishments under NASCAR. Yet his points standing is safe, and he even holds a significant advantage heading into Darlington next weekend.