(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
Austin Cindric has had a while to think about the playoffs.
After winning February’s Daytona 500, Cindric has waited for 25 races up until Darlington. It appeared his victory in The Great American Race punched his ticket into the playoffs, but it wasn’t official until before Watkins Glen with so many different winners this season.
But now, Cindric’s looking toward making a statement in his first NASCAR Cup Series playoff run.
“I honestly feel mentally pretty good,” Cindric said in a teleconference this week. “You just go out and try to put together three really great races and try and be consistent and try not to beat ourselves. That’s the opportunity. Obviously there are past champions that aren’t in the playoffs right now, so, from that standpoint it’s not guaranteed that I’ll be in it next year or the year after.”
Cindric’s Daytona victory set an early tone for the season, but that quickly changed. He battled inconsistencies for much of the spring, and after a crash in the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, Cindric fell to 19th in points.
But, this summer has been much more consistent for the 24-year-old rookie. Cindric has finished 13th or better in 10 of the last 12 races — the two outliars only products of early crashes.
Cindric heads into the playoffs as the No. 14 seed, three points below the cutline. But, being a playoff driver as a rookie is an accomplishment alone. He’s the only rookie in the playoff field this season and the first since Cole Custer won his way in at Kentucky two years ago.
“I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to go into my rookie season in Cup probably as best-prepared as anybody could be,” Cindric said. “It’s been a tight season and I think execution and consistency has been at a premium and I think those that are able to perform in that manner is where I think I have to have my mind.
“I certainly feel like I was set up for success in that sense, so a big credit to Team Penske for not only putting the faith in me, but also the right steps in place for that. From that standpoint, I feel like I certainly had that opportunity and feel like I’ve taken advantage of it.”
(Photo: Blake Ulino | The Podium Finish)
Though this is Cindric’s first journey through the Cup Series playoffs, he’s certainly no stranger to playoff racing.
Two years ago, Cindric won six Xfinity Series races — including the final one. He navigated seven races and survived a green-white-checkered to win the Xfinity championship at Phoenix Raceway.
Last year, he had the same opportunity. Though he couldn’t defend, losing to Daniel Hemric by mere feet in the championship race, it doesn’t take away from his ability to survive and manage the playoff format.
“I think there’s a similar mindset. The same amount of cars get eliminated, but you’ve just got an extra round,” Cindric said. “The biggest difference between Cup and Xfinity is that in Cup there is a strong likelihood that you are racing against guys that aren’t in the playoffs, whereas in Xfinity you’re racing all guys in the playoffs so everybody is getting stage points. There are really small margins to gain, whereas in the Cup Series I feel like there’s probably plenty of times you’re not gonna get stage points.
“The field is super tight. You can look at it from I’m three below and have some of the fewest playoff points, but I could also look at it as eight points puts me fifth. You think about how easy it is to gain and lose eight points over three races. I think there’s everything to gain for us right now.”
The Cook Out Southern 500 kicks off the 2022 playoffs with Bristol, the Charlotte ROVAL and Martinsville serving as cut-off races on the journey to Phoenix.
But, Cindric isn’t setting any expectations for the final 10 races of the season. He understands the challenges of the playoffs and is just along for the ride.
“The only expectation I have is to have a team that has all of the resources and capability to be able to do that and we’ve certainly delivered on a lot of occasions,” Cindric said. “I feel like we’re the best we’ve been so far. I think we’ve got our process down. The communication is certainly the best it’s been, so I think all of those things are important when I’m racing against guys that have decades with that experience.
“It’s another race, another week. Just like the Daytona 500 it’s the biggest race of the year, but it’s also just another race on the calendar and you’ve got to treat it as such. Remember what has gotten you here. Remember the process. Trust the process.”
Sunday’s race at Darlington is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on USA Network. Denny Hamlin won this race last year, while polesitter Joey Logano won the spring race.
