Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Brian Scott climbed from his car Friday night in Richmond, Virginia and you could feel the disgust oozing through his body language. Scott’s frustration was understandable, if not deserved — even before you factor in a pair of controversies over the last 12 laps of the event, which led to the driver missing out on his first Nationwide Series victory.

Scott — who started from the pole position — had led the first 239 laps of Friday night’s 250-lap Virginia 529, and he had the best car in the field hands down.

Over the final two restarts of the event; NASCAR was faced with two huge judgement calls with the race on the line, and that’s where a common controversy reared its ugly head yet again. On the lap 240 restart Brian Scott — who was the leader of the race — was beaten to the green flag by Brad Keselowski — the second place runner — which is a clear rule infraction.

In NASCAR as long as the leader accelerates correctly on a restart, the second place car cannot beat them to the start finish line.

Keselowski got away with one, and Scott’s chance at leading from wire-to-wire was all said and done as the caution came out just after Keselowski took over the lead.

But Scott would buckle down in an effort to best Keselowski on the next restart. Every track has a designated restart box, where the leader must accelerate to start the race. If the leader accelerates before reaching the box, then they are subject to penalty. If the leader accelerates too late, then the second place driver is allowed to beat the leader to the start finish line.

On the race’s final restart Brad Keselowski took off before he reached the restart box, and as a result he had a one car-length lead over Scott before even getting to turn one. Scott would be shuffled back, and would have to battle back just to finish second. Keselowski on the other hand would escape NASCAR’s penalty guillotine, and would go on to win the race.

This is the latest example of NASCAR cutting bigger-name superstars from the Sprint Cup Series breaks in penalty situations, and Brian Scott let his opinion about the finish of this race be known.

“Unfortunately the restart right before the last I didn’t get a great restart and he beat us to the line and I was a little upset about that call, and then on the final restart Brad he went two or three car lengths early. I think it looked pretty obvious when I saw the replay on TV. That never gave us a chance to put on a race for the fans and race side-by-side into turn one, which I think would have been a lot more interesting,” a seething Scott said following the race.

“I’ve seen people penalized for less questionable restarts than that, and I don’t understand why there wasn’t a penalty for one beating me to the line on the restart before that, and two jumping that one. It sucks. It took the win away from the best car and it eliminated a race that the fans could have seen to the end. He just went so early and checked out, everybody here at Richmond and everybody on ESPN they didn’t get to see the side-by-side racing that they should’ve seen in this 1,000th race and that’s a real shame.”

Several other situations just like Scott’s come to mind, and certainly Elliott Sadler — who drove Scott’s No. 2 car in 2012 — must be feeling Scott’s pain. Last year in the inaugural Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Elliott Sadler was black flagged for jumping the race’s final restart.

Brad Keselowski, who had lined up as the leader spun his tires in the restart box, and Austin Dillon who lined up from the fourth position forced Sadler’s hand by bumping his car past Keselowski. Sadler’s shot at a career-defining win was stolen away in an instant in favor of a Sprint Cup Series regular. Keselowski would go on to win that day in Indianapolis.

After Friday’s debacle, Scott would just like an explanation from NASCAR on the restarts procedure.

“Just some clarification to understand you know when some of the rules maybe don’t get penalized or maybe don’t apply cause those would be good to know especially in those situations,” a visibly upset Scott stated. “We had a car that was capable of winning I haven’t been in the lead on a lot of restarts so maybe I’m just unfamiliar that the rules only apply sometimes.”

Of course there are many more moments just like tonight in recent memory. The most egregious instance cane back in 2008. Regan Smith — an unknown Sprint Cup Series rookie at the time — found himself second to Tony Stewart in the closing laps of the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Coming to the finish line Smith dove to the inside of Stewart, and Stewart proceeded to force Smith below the yellow line. Smith would beat Tony Stewart to the finish line for the win, but NASCAR would immediately strip the victory in favor of the more popular Stewart. Even Stewart fans cried foul that day, but Stewart’s win would stand.

At restrictor plate races you are not allowed to advance your position below the yellow line, unless of course you are forced below the line by the person you’re trying to pass. If someone forces another driver below the line, they can be penalized by NASCAR themselves. So it was Stewart who honestly should have been relegated to an 18th-place finish, while Smith enjoyed the spoils of victory lane.

NASCAR missed the call that day. Five years prior they did the same thing. The sanctioning body that day allowed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the 2003 Aaron’s 499 after making a pass below the yellow line on Matt Kenseth for the lead.

Over the last few years Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch have been the benefactors of very iffy restart calls, while lesser known drivers or drivers on the other end of the career spectrum get the shaft under the same circumstances. You have to begin to assume that the inconsistent calls are more than a mistake. It seems as though there really are two sets of rules that NASCAR plays by, and I applaud Brian Scott for standing up to the sanctioning body Friday night.