(Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Cindric already can’t believe how fast time is flying. He’s set to make his 50th NASCAR Cup Series start on Sunday at Richmond Raceway.
“Fifty sounds like a lot more, but I mean, I guess at the end of the day, you got 30+ races in the season,” Cindric said on Saturday. “If you made a bar graph, I’m still probably pretty low when it comes to the competition.”
Cindric, 24, is in his second full-time season driving the No. 2 car for Team Penske. He made his debut in 2021, making seven starts in the unchartered No. 33 car before taking the full-time reigns in 2022.
He wasted no time making an impact, winning the Daytona 500. Since then, however, Cindric’s been scoreless. He made a run to the Round of 12 of the Playoffs but failed to advance beyond the Charlotte ROVAL.
After an up-and-down start to 2023, Cindric has found consistency over the last two weeks. He finished 11th at Atlanta Motor Speedway before a sixth-place result at Circuit of the Americas. A fourth of the way through the regular season, Cindric sits 10th in driver’s points.
Although he’s satisfied with the last two races, Cindric said there’s still room for more growth.
“The last two weeks have been really good, but at the same time, I feel like they’ve also been slightly missed opportunities,” Cindric explained. “I felt like Atlanta, our finishing position didn’t really capture how well we ran and same thing with COTA, honestly. Being sent back off of our first pitstop and not being able to get good stage points in the second stage and probably the finish that we deserved with a car that wasn’t all beat up. I guess it’s a good thing to walk away from good points days knowing that it could have been more.
“I feel like it’s kind of averaged out our season so far. The first three races of the year, just getting put in the wall one week after another is not exactly what I call fun.”
(Photo: Sean Folsom | The Podium Finish)
In just three races at Richmond, Cindric has seen a mixed bag of results. He finished 28th in his third career Cup start before finishing 20th and 12th in the two races last season. In eight Xfinity Series starts, Cindric has won twice — securing victories in the fall 2019 race and the 2021 race.
Although NASCAR will use the new short-track package which results in 30% less downforce, Cindric expects a typical Richmond race: long green-flag runs, tire wear and strategy.
“Definitely expect a lot of the trends of Richmond to be the same,” Cindric said. “As far as the strategy, green flag running, comers and goers, the cream rising to the top … Richmond has always been a place in my mind that I feel like when you’re bad, it’s easy to tell. With a package that has triple-digit numbers less downforce, I think it’s going to be that much easier to tell those that are good and those that aren’t.
“I think if there’s anywhere that this aero package is going to be highlighted, I think it’s Richmond.”
Cindric will start Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 from the sixth position. The race is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
