(Photo: Kevin Ritchie | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO — Austin Cindric broke out of a sophomore skid to finish sixth in the streets of Chicago — just his third top 10 of the 2023 season.
Cindric, last year’s Daytona 500 champion, qualified 31st but started the inaugural Grant Park 220 from the rear after spinning and suffering damage in the qualifying session. When strategies were scattered in Stage 2 because of the possibility of NASCAR shortening the race, Cindric was among a group of cars that pitted early.
At the end of Stage 2, when NASCAR announced that the race would end on Lap 75 instead of Lap 100, the cars that stayed out had no choice but to pit. Cindric suddenly had track position, though he had older tires and needed to save some fuel for the end.
Throughout the final stage, Cindric kept it clean and kept his No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang in the mix. He survived a few late incidents and maintained a top-10 pace to finish as the banner blue oval in the Windy City.
“These guys have been working their tails off since I hit the same wall twice yesterday,” Cindric said after the race. “I’m just really proud of the team, not just the effort. I mean, Jeremy (Bullins, crew chief) made a great strategy call and had great forethought with what was gonna happen with the weather and the timing and everything. We kept it off the wall and was able to have some speed at the end of the race to really contend inside of the top 10 and really earn a good finish. I’m just proud of everybody on this Discount Tire Ford Mustang. It’s not what I want. I want to win, but we’ve had a really tough stretch and this is a good step in the right direction.”
(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
Cindric, who has a background in IMSA and open-wheel racing, took well to the streets of Chicago. The driver with eight starts in the WeatherTech Championship was one of the few drivers with street course experience, something used to his advantage.
It’s been a difficult season for Cindric, who won Rookie of the Year in 2022. He hadn’t scored a top 10 since Circuit of the Americas in March and had finished 20th or worse in seven of the last nine races.
Cindric will have more opportunities at road courses in the near future. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Watkins Glen International loom in August — two chances where Cindric could win his way into the Playoffs. With eight races remaining in the regular season, Cindric is 22nd in driver’s points, 45 below the cutline.
But looking ahead to the 2024 schedule, Cindric is hopeful for a trip back to Chicago.
“I really hope we come back,” Cindric said. “The city of Chicago, everything that NASCAR has done to do this for the first time, I give it an A-plus by both parties. I think we all really enjoyed it and I think that we know it would have been bigger without the weather and with the concerts. I was watching the whole race and people started coming back. By the end of the race, we had people lining fences on both sides every corner, so it’s cool to see. We have a lot of momentum in the sport, but I hope we come back.”
