[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]The caution flagged waived on lap 78 in Saturday’s inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sadler was in the second spot for the restart, lining up the No. 2 Chevrolet on the outside of race leader Brad Keselowski.

When the green flag dropped, Sadler moved into the lead, but was penalized by NASCAR as officials reported he crossed the start-finish line before the leader.

Keselowski spun his tires and got loose from contact from teammate Sam Hornish Jr. on the inside during the restart while Sadler was being pushed from behind by the No.3 driven by Austin Dillon.

“He did not jump the restart. But the rules are that he cannot beat the No. 1 starter to the line. That’s what he did. He clearly did that. He had him cleared by the time they got to the start/finish line, and made no attempt to give it back. That’s the rules of the restart.” vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said.

Sadler was forced to serve a pass-through penalty on lap 89, returning to the field in the 24th position. Sadler battled back to finish 15th.

“This is a tough one to swallow. We really wanted to win this inaugural race. Today my heart was definitely ripped out of my chest. We will rebound from this, and the OneMain Financial team will be even hungrier next week at Iowa Speedway for a win.” Sadler said.

Team owner Richard Childress directed some of the blame on Keselowski and said that Keselowski laid back on the restart.

As my story title states, what exactly could or should Sadler have done? Let off and back up the outside lane and let everyone else including the leader get around you? That would have most likely caused a huge wreck.

There are numerous scenarios that could have or should have been done, but it’s just a blown call by NASCAR. Another restart could have rectified the situation or NASCAR could have just noticed that the situation was out of Sadler’s control and let the race play out. They had several laps to review the situation, yet blow it.

Great call!

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”294″][/media-credit]Austin and Ty Dillon only seem to know two things: racing and trying to beat each other in anything that can be made a competition. And they keep score too, just as any siblings would.

Saturday was no different, but the stakes were much higher. The Nationwide Series inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway saw Austin, competing full-time, joined by Camping World Truck Series regular Ty. And after 250 miles, 100 laps around the famed facility the two found themselves again battling for bragging rights.

“We’ve always been really competitive in anything we’ve done,” said Austin after the race. “No matter what it is: sports, anything. Except school. We always been competitive, whatever it took to win or be the best. And I think that’s what pushes us each and every day.

“It’s nice having a brother that’s very competitive and very talented. I know he pushes me and I hope I push him.”

They pushed each other, and the competition, Saturday. While neither led a lap, both showed strength and contended for the top spot. Ty making the most of his second career start, running as high as third and keeping his No. 51 Wesco Chevrolet in one piece. Austin was looking for his second career win and a gain in the point standings.

It was also his first race back with crew chief Danny Stockman, who had been serving a two-race suspension following penalties handed down after Daytona. The No. 3 AdvoCare team put on a strong performance, qualifying seventh and running top 10 for much of the event.

“It was pretty interesting, as the race went on you saw a lot of important track position played and definitely in our situation we had to get some track position and it worked out for us,” he said.

“I had a good racecar early. Was racing up near the top five and smacked the wall after we made our last adjustment, getting into turn one and that just hurt us pretty bad. Lost quite a few positions when I did that.”

His driver error didn’t hurt a bit. Dillon made a decent recovery to move back into top 10 contention where his team could again make a strategy call. Taking just two tires and fuel on his final pit stop, enough to get him back into the top five.

He lined up fourth for the final restart; in position to make a run at a historic win. But pushing teammate Elliott Sadler to the lead became the only shot at the front he had. And unfortunately for Sadler, he beat leader Brad Keselowski to the line and was black-flagged.

“The last restart – it’s so important right now that you have to go on restarts,” said Austin of the incident. “Restarts are where all your passing’s done and especially at a big track like this momentum is huge. That’s everything, restarts.”

According to Austin, he was loaded and ready to go on the last restart and he thought he heard Keselowski take off. So he and Sadler went too. As he was pushing Sadler, Keselowski’s teammate Sam Hornish was pushing him. Beyond that, Austin says he would have to see a replay to offer any more information.

“I just went when the green was out,” he said.

As Sadler was penalized, Austin was losing positions. Hornish went by, as did Hamlin, then came little brother. He finished fifth as Ty continued his incredible run. He started and finished third. Afterwards Austin congratulated little brother for kicking his butt.

“Just so excited,” said Ty after the race as he thanked his sponsor letting him race and Nationwide for moving the race to Indy. “Just coming here if you would have given me a top 10 I would have been ecstatic. I kind of learned a little bit about myself this week, I did this last year with the Truck Series and went into those last three races in the Truck Series last year with an open attitude, just wanting to have fun and drive a racecar.

“I had no pressure with the points and same thing this year with no pressure of points and wanted to have fun here at a historic track like Indy.”

The biggest thing for Ty was feeling that he had become a better driver. Things like being more understanding, opening his mind more to adjusting whatever he’s driving. The weekend did wonders for his confidence and how he’ll approach the remaining season in the CWTS.

“I’m just so happy for my guys,” he said. “My truck team was pitting my car all weekend and Gil Martin, a legendary crew chief whose done a lot of great things in our sport, crew chiefed it and did an awesome job.”

Austin moves onto Iowa next weekend, just one point behind Sadler in the standings. Ty and the CWTS are in Pocono. And in keeping it all in the family, he like Austin sits second in points. He, however, is still looking for his first career win.

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Brickyard is something to talk about – for all the wrong reasons.

The NASCAR “Super” weekend at Indy will lead to a “Super” discussion after two controversial calls were made by the sanctioning body during the inaugural Indiana 250 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

To describe Saturday’s controversy in simple terms: two different calls were made in what seemed to be the same – or fairly close – scenarios.

With the original start of the race producing a lead change before the cars even made their way to the start/finish line, where Kyle Busch passed pole sitter Kasey Kahne before reaching the line, no penalty was given.

NASCAR’s explanation was that Kahne did not advance in time, allowing Kyle Busch to take advantage within the confines of the rules.

In a late race restart, a very similar incident occurred.

This time, with Brad Keselowski leading and Elliott Sadler in second place, it was Sadler who passed the leader before the line after Keselowski spun his tires.

This time, NASCAR handed down a black flag, taking away a potential victory for Sadler, the Nationwide Series points leader going into the event.

Under these scenarios and NASCAR’s original explanation made during the race after the first issue, what was the difference?

Keselowski seemed to spin his tires and did not advance, just as Kahne did not advance earlier in the event.

Why did the calls not match and which call is right and which is wrong?

Unfortunately, as frustrating as it is, this is not something that can be simply understood.

NASCAR perhaps may have made the right call Saturday due to all the possible scenarios that exist in restart rules. While this may be hard to believe, one thing can be agreed upon – these restart rules can be confusing.

This leads to a very interesting question: is it time to make the restart rules simpler?

Perhaps the days have come where it doesn’t matter who gets to the line first, who changes lanes or who spins tires.

Perhaps when the flag drops, it is just time to go.

Forget the rest. When the green flag drops, everyone can go.

This idea itself may be controversial, but it sure would end a lot of confusion – for fans, drivers and even NASCAR officials.

[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]The NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that was held on July 28th proved to be a memorable one for Brad Keselowski.  The 100 lap race around the 2.5 mile track in Speedway, Indiana was the inaugural event for the Nationwide Series.

Keselowski brought the #22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger into victory lane ahead of his Penske Racing teammate of Sam Hornish Jr. The one-two finish is another great feat accomplished by Penske organization and is more notable for being the first victory Penske has earned in a stock car at the most famous track in the world.

“Everybody knows how special Indy is and any win you can have here, whether it’s the 500 in May or the Brickyard 400 here tomorrow, and now the first nationwide race. Any victory here is special and I’m glad to be able to do it for Roger.”  Keselowski says in his post race interview with ESPN.

“It wasn’t easy, Kyle Busch was really fast, he had a great car today and I think he was just a little bit stronger than us and it was going to come down to who got through traffic better.”  Brad states of his fellow competitor.

Kyle Busch restarted in 26th position with 18 laps to go after spinning on the previous restart and finished the day in 22nd position.

Elliot Sadler looked to be en route to victory but got black flagged for jumping the restart with 18 laps to go.  Sadler stated how he got pushed on the restart by Austin Dillon and ignored the black flags lap after lap while his crew chief discussed the issue with NASCAR officials.

“NASCAR just taking the championship right from me” Sadler said on the radio after being told by his crew chief that he must pit.

Sadler finished his first Nationwide race at Indianapolis in 15th position.

On lap 39, Danica Patrick made contact with the #98 car of Reed Sorenson.  After the contact, Sorenson’s car began to lose control and Patrick got collected in the spin that she created.

“It’s just unfortunate for our day, it’s a big race, it’s a big weekend and it’s a track I would have loved to have done well at.”  Danica says after being released from the infield care center.

Danica was hung back in the middle of the pack for most of her day, throughout the race she had been dialing her car in and attempting to move forward when the contact with Sorenson occurred, she explains to ESPN.

“You know, we were just trying to pick them off one by one and Tony (Eury, Jr.) made the car better on that second run and we just got shuffled back on that restart there, just picked the wrong line and got shuffled back…I don’t know what happened,  I got into the center of the corner and got pretty close. I might have tapped him, I’m not sure, he was slowing it down quite a bit I didn’t mean to take him out.”

Racing at Indianapolis was a small homecoming for Patrick and she had high hopes for her first race at the speedway in a stock car.

“It’s just a bummer, there was plenty of racing left to try and work with…I feel bad, everybody works real hard and we just haven’t been able to get the finishes for the team that they deserve, so hopefully I can start doing that.”

The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to action on August 5th in Iowa for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by the Enlist Weed Control System.