Steady Cindric Quietly Pushes Forward Into Round Of 12

Austin Cindric in action at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – After back-to-back top 10 finishes to kick off the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Austin Cindric used a 13th-place run in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to propel himself into the Round of 12.

Cindric, who returned to the playoffs this season after a year’s absence, capitalized on his superspeedway and road course expertise to snag consecutive 10th-place finishes at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, respectively.

Those efforts had him seeded third in the playoffs, 43 points above the cutoff heading into a showdown under the lights at The Last Great Colosseum.

Despite a 27th-place qualifying effort, Cindric and the Menard’s/Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse team put together a respectable race-day effort, averaging a top-20 running position and actually setting six fastest laps during the 500-lap marathon – even with race winner Kyle Larson’s dominance.

Cindric’s solid 13th-place finish marked his fourth consecutive top 15 and helped ease the sting of a dismal 31st-place result at Bristol from the spring.

“It was a solid night from starting as far back as we did and staying on the lead lap for as long as we did,” Cindric noted. “Our car was really strong. Thank you to Menards and everyone at Team Penske. I’m proud of the effort to bring really solid race cars the first three races [of the playoffs] and how we were able to do the right things with them.

“We had three solid finishes, the worst finish being 13th – that's what we needed in this round, racing within our limits – and I see no reason why we can’t do the same thing in the next,” he added. “I think that’s what it’s going to take to move on to the Round of 8.”

Just like his maiden playoff appearance in 2022, Cindric finds himself in the second round. With the structure of this round shaping up similar to the last, Cindric and his Team Penske crew have plenty of optimism headed into October.

“I feel like the performance has been there to do what we need to do,” Cindric said. “I feel like both the Round of 16 and Round of 12 look pretty similar as far as the types of races, so I feel great about it.

“Kansas is a great opportunity for us to get going. I really like that track.”

In addition to the mile-and-a-half oval in Kansas, the middle round of the playoffs also features a drafting track in Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway as well as the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL, both being track styles that Cindric has enjoyed success on in the past.

“I think Talladega is a great opportunity race for us and the ROVAL can be solved as well; there’s no reason why we can’t go replicate the same race[s] within our limits, do what we’ve already done to this point, and get to the Round of 8.”

Cindric and the other 11 Cup Series playoff drivers will follow the yellow brick road to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN BET. Coverage begins Sunday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.