Austin Cindric starts second for the second consecutive race weekend where he hopes to be number one in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta. (Photo: Hayden Hutchison | The Podium Finish)
HAMPTON, Ga. — Make no mistake about it. Austin Cindric is a genuine contender for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
No, it is not because of qualifying second for the second time in as many weeks or that he started second in the 2023 running of this race.
Certainly, it has nothing to do with the Team Penske driver placing eighth after running consistently toward the front in the 67th DAYTONA 500.
Simply put, the 26-year-old native of Mooresville, North Carolina, is one of the best NASCAR Cup Series racers at the recently refit Atlanta track. In the past six Cup races at the 1.54-mile high banked track, Cindric has two top fives and three top 10s, logging an average finish of 12.0.
It should come to nobody’s surprise that Cindric also qualifies well at Atlanta, tallying an averaging starting position of 7.67. When Cindric posted the second quickest time in Saturday’s qualifying session, it only reaffirmed the 2020 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion’s confidence and comfort at this venue.
Cindric was part of the Team Penske affiliated top four sweep in qualifying with teammate Ryan Blaney on the pole, fellow Team Penske racer Joey Logano in third and Josh Berry, racing for the Wood Brothers Racing entry, in fourth.
As much as Cindric wanted the pole, it was a banner day for those driving a Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
“It’s really cool to have four cars that come out of our race shop top four in the field, so I can’t tell you how many Fords are up there in the top 10, but it’s an incredible effort by everybody,” Cindric said. “I would love to have the pole. I can’t tell you how many front row starts I’ve had at these speedway races, but it means we’ve had some exceptionally fast cars.
“The Menards/Delta Ford Mustang was clearly fast right off the truck and really good with repeatability between the rounds there for us, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. A lot goes on because today is the speed piece and tomorrow is the handling piece.”
Handling will be an interesting characteristic to observe with the fast Fords given how they occupy nine of the top 10 starting positions. Without a practice round for the teams to shake down their cars, drivers like Cindric want their cars to handle well, but it is anyone’s guess if that will be the case come Sunday afternoon.
At the superspeedway style races, drivers often turn to those who are good at ‘pushing’ or draft well to move toward the front of a snarling pack of cars. Over the years, Cindric has gained the reputation of being a stellar superspeedway racer from his veteran comrades.
This comes as a bit of a mild surprise to Cindric given his origins although he embraces the chaotic nature of these races.
Austin Cindric’s starting position matches his car’s number for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
“It is something you never expect to hear,” Cindric said in his pre-race press conference. “But, anything you work hard at, you certainly want to see the progress whether it is from your competitors, from within yourself or from your own team. I can remember the first two Truck races I did on superspeedways. I hated it! I hated it because I didn’t understand it. When we did the first race here, after they re-paved it, I hated it. But that is because I didn’t understand it.
“Now I feel like I look forward to it. That is a huge evolution. That is not just allowing it to happen and understanding that you have to get better to enjoy it. I only have fun if I am out there trying to be successful. If there is an impact on others out there around me, either positive or negative, sobeit but it is a challenging thing to make progress at a level this high. It is only one area in what we do. My goal as a race car driver in NASCAR is to be able to look at myself or have my competitors look at me in a similar fashion on all styles of race tracks.”
Still, like Logano, Cindric knows promises on the track in terms of ‘friendly drafts’ are dime a dozen.
“I feel like I’m that middle phase,” he shared. “I use the XFINITY Series as an example. When I first got to the XFINITY Series, everyone tried to stay away from me. By the time I was done in the XFINITY Series, I felt like I could be trusted as a friendly source on how to get to the front. I feel like I am in the middle of that right now. I don’t ever expect anyone to go out of their way to help me.”
Last year, Cindric was in the mix for the win in both races before placing fourth in the spring and 10th in the summer. Perhaps some experience will serve him well in terms of timing his drive to the front to bring the No. 2 car back into Victory Lane.
“You can translate the speed,” Cindric offered. “I still expect us to bring the similar speed we had at Daytona for Speedweeks. But the handling elements of Atlanta – this track is aging and changing a bit – the conditions being so sensitive to this place. I feel like that is what really defines the racing each time we come here.
“Being able to stay close to guys is purely a factor of the handling of the cars. We’ve had some pretty good handling race cars here in the past. Handling matters at Daytona but maybe in some more specific areas. Whereas, if you want to compete this weekend, you have to have a car that can handle all the track.”
