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Team Penske driver and former Daytona winner Austin Cindric aims to get his 2024 campaign back on track ahead of NASCAR's first road course race of the season in Circuit of the Americas.
Former Xfinity Series champion and the 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric has found his career spiral down after a dream start. The 25-year-old, who won the first race of his rookie Cup Series campaign at Daytona International Speedway, has gone winless for over two years, struggling to find form.
Adding to his misfortune, the 2023 season also saw the Ohio native miss out on playoffs. While teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney continue to find championship success in consecutive seasons, Cindric grapples with consistency and performance issues.
The 25-year-old would've hoped to leave behind his ghosts of the past and kick off the 2024 campaign on a positive note. However, barring a fourth-place finish in Atlanta, he has struggled to secure a single top 20 finish in the remaining four races. Ahead of NASCAR's first road course weekend at COTA, Cindric spoke to Motorsport.com. He said:
"The last two weeks have been wildly out of the control of what I feel like our race team is capable of in a few different ways, but as far as COTA stacks up for me, no matter how you cut it, it’s been a race track that I’ve been able to be competitive at and lead laps every time I’ve been there in a Cup car."
He added:
"I’m kind of excited to just get back going and hopefully a lot of green flag running."
Austin Cindric claims COTA is not his "favorite" track
Austin Cindric claimed that he doesn't consider COTA to be his favorite track but one where he has done well in the past
Despite not considering COTA his "favorite" track personally, Cindric recognizes its potential for success based on past performances. The 25-year-old stated:
"Personally, it’s not necessarily my favorite race track, to be honest, but it’s somewhere that we’ve performed well. We seem to have a package that works well there and after the last couple of weeks I’m very hungry to just execute and everyone get to do our jobs."
Austin Cindric has 87 points to his name after five races so far in the 2024 season. The 25-year-old sits on 15th position in the NASCAR Cup Series points table.
Cindric's last race in Bristol proved to be a challenge for the driver, as he struggled managing the tire wear that marred the race for many drivers on the given afternoon. The Team Penske driver secured a 31st-place finish.
