‘Lot Of Positive Momentum’ In Cindric’s Run Toward Playoff

Austin Cindric (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

RICHMOND, Va. – For the third time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Austin Cindric is gearing up for a postseason run, and with two races left in the regular season he’s seeking momentum to make a deep push at his first championship.

In his last four races, Cindric has finished 16th or better, dating back to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on July 20. With his Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway win in April locking him into the playoffs, Cindric has made it his goal in the last three and a half months to find consistency and become a bigger title threat.

That goal continues this weekend at Virginia’s Richmond Raceway.

“I think Richmond is one of those racetracks that you have nowhere to hide as far as your performance. Every week I’m trying to win the race. That’s going to benefit my playoffs and that’s what I’m paid to do,” said Cindric of his mentality headed into Saturday night’s race. “That’s what I want to do, so as far as that goes that doesn’t really change. That’s a constant.

“As far as how aggressive we might be on strategy throughout the race, there are definitely some opportunities to change things up,” he said. “It depends on if you want to do one or two stops in the second or third stage. There isn’t an opening, because there’s usually a lot of green flag runs and it’s such a tricky racetrack, so there’s not really anywhere to hide if you are struggling in performance.”

In Cindric’s Cup Series career at Richmond, the short track hasn’t treated him well. He has two top 20s in seven starts, and both of those came three years ago during his rookie season.

However, despite the lack of his own results, Team Penske has thrived on short tracks and at Richmond, renewing Cindric’s confidence that he can rebound and capitalize.

“I’ve had everything happen at Richmond other than finishing inside the top 10. My last two times there I lost a cylinder and then I lost power-steering last [August],” Cindric said. “But it’s actually one of my favorite racetracks, it’s a fun place. You kind of get that short track feel that I haven’t had at too many places, and I hope we have a great weekend.”

In the Next-Gen era, between Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, the Penske organization has two top fives, six top 10s, and 356 laps led at the three-quarter-mile, D-shaped oval.

Despite out qualifying his teammates, the ability to lean on them affords Cindric a boost headed into Saturday night, as he looks to continue building toward the playoff opener at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Aug. 31.

“Starting off on the right foot really helped us out to start the year and build our notebook. I believe that’s going to help us even further in the playoffs,” he said. “There’s been a lot of gain in having one year under our belt as a race team working together. You work on so many details like communication and the small things.

“You could call that experience, but I do feel like I’ve been able to approach each weekend with a much clearer mindset on what’s going to happen in the race and what I can impact,” he said. “Our team has been operating at a pretty high level in a lot of areas, and I’d like to think I’m a large part of that.”

The 26-year-old has had many opportunities to win up to now, even aside from his Talladega victory earlier in the season. This year he has led the most laps in his career in a single season, at 311 total, but Cindric knows that racing for a Cup Series championship requires an even higher level of performance.

“In the next couple of weeks, the best opportunity for us to make [playoff] gains is to win races. We’ve been gunning for that on a lot of events and feel like we’ve had cars that have been able to contend for wins in the last couple of weeks as well,” said Cindric.

“There’s been a lot of positive momentum for the team and I think we’re ramping up at the right time.”

Coverage of the Cook Out 400 from Richmond is slated for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.