(Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A noticeable trend from Daytona Speedweeks: repeat winners. Zane Smith won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race for the second year in a row. Austin Hill won the Xfinity Series race for the second year in a row.
All that’s left is Austin Cindric. But since he pulled his stunning upset last season, nothing’s really changed for the 24-year-old on the personal side.
“Even after winning the 500 I had to take my trash out on Monday and I got a jury summons two weeks later,” Cindric joked on Daytona 500 Media Day. “They followed up and they sent me one in December and I had to serve on a jury for a week-and-a-half in December on a criminal murder trial. It was a good life experience, horrible timing.”
But on the racing side, he’s recognized that his perception has changed.
“Some people will only and forever know who Austin Cindric is because he won the Daytona 500 and I’m totally fine with that, but it does change and it did change throughout the entire year last year,” Cindric said. “I approach this weekend just like any other race because I think you need to mentally because it is the start of our season, but, otherwise, it’s certainly something fun to reflect on and kind of gives you perspective on big moments of your life and how you go about them and how you perceive yourself.”
“I’ve had a whole year to reflect on the experience and how far-reaching the Daytona 500 goes outside of the motorsports community, so I think this year will probably understand how big of a day and how big of an achievement that was, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend and getting my eyes opened a little bit and a little bit of perspective.”
Cindric’s father, Tim, serves as president of Team Penske. With the team’s NTT INDYCAR Series success, Cindric has always been a name associated with open-wheel racing.
With a Daytona 500 win in hand, the name Cindric has turned into a NASCAR name.
“If you look at the Cindric family as a whole, we’re no longer defined by Indianapolis and I think that’s kind of cool to think of my impact on that just throughout our family,” Austin Cindric said. “As much as racing has influenced everybody else’s path in life under the Cindric name, it’s cool to know that I’ve had that influence and maybe made things a little wider reaching.”
Cindric is looking to build upon a 2022 season that ended in the Round of 12. He finished his rookie campaign with five top fives and nine top 10s.
The 2021 Xfinity Series champion has a road course racing background. He’ll look to capitalize at the six road courses on the 2022 Cup Series schedule.
But for now, Cindric’s eyes are set on defending the Great American Race. He’ll start sixth on Sunday.
