Cindric On Strong Atlanta Showing: ‘It Keeps Us Alive’

Austin Cindric in action at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

HAMPTON, Ga. – Austin Cindric showcased another strong performance at a drafting track in what was an immensely successful outing for Team Penske in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

While he gained on the elimination line and jumped from 10th to seventh in the standings, Cindric walked away from the 1.54-mile quad-oval with a slightly uninspiring result relative to his speed and the likes of his Cup Series champion teammates.

The 2022 Daytona 500 winner started his day from fifth and further solidified his status as one of the best superspeedway racers in the game by spending a majority of the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart inside the top five. At one point, he looked virtually unbeatable in the first Round-of-16 race.

After finishing runner-up in stage one, right behind his teammate and eventual third-place finisher Ryan Blaney, the Penske pair swapped positions by the end of the second segment, tying each other for the most stage points on the day with 19 and earning one playoff point apiece.

Further asserting his dominance over the competition, Cindric wound up leading a race-high 92 laps – all of which came in the second stage.

Things began to unravel a bit for the 26-year-old during the second stage-break caution, following a pit stop gone wrong where the team held the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse to ensure it was fully fueled, when Cindric stalled exiting his pit box.

That mired the stage-two winner all the way back in 19th by the time the race restarted with 94 to go.

Struggling in dirty air to replicate his prior race pace from out front, Cindric began to methodically chip away at the competition each lap, fighting for a spot in the top 15 nearing 50 to go in regulation.

Restarting 14th with 49 laps remaining, Cindric began slicing and dicing his way back up to the top 10 with urgency, frequently making bold, three-wide moves.

Cindric unknowingly found his path toward success after connecting with the rear bumper of his teammate and eventual race winner Joey Logano as the laps continued to tick away.

Although the past rookie-of-the-year’s reputation for being a great pusher on drafting tracks was validated when he propelled the No. 22 into the top 10, Cindric was unable to get any help in his own right.

That left Cindric trapped on the bottom of consistent three-wide racing until a caution flew for debris coming to 10 to go.

Restarting 11th with five laps left, Cindric didn’t fire off well and was scored 14th when yet another yellow was displayed coming to the white flag, after Noah Gragson crashed on the backstretch.

While his teammates Logano and Blaney went on to duke it out for the win – and ultimately a pair of podium finishes – Cindric survived an 11-car pileup coming to the finish line to tally just his fourth top 10 of the season.

It was a positive rally considering the rough sledding he fought through, but Cindric felt the afternoon could have been so much more.

“We just had a miscue on pit road,” Cindric said after the race. “We lost a ton of spots, and it just took a while to kind of claw our way back forward. I feel like I could have made some better moves on track to get closer to where Joey was, but (I’m) happy for everyone on the team.

“Those guys deserve a speedway win. Their cars have been super-fast all year.”

Although Cindric wasn’t in contention for the win in a race where he led the most laps, he did rack up the fourth-most points overall and made significant gains in the playoff standings.

Entering the Round of 16 opener, the No. 2 team was the 10th-seed and only two points above the cutoff. Exiting Atlanta, he’s now 27 points to the good and ranked seventh, ahead of favorites including Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

“It keeps us alive,” Cindric concluded in regard to his big points day as a whole.

Cindric and the rest of the Cup Series playoff contenders head next to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International for the running of the Go Bowling at the Glen. Broadcast coverage is slated for Sunday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.