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Austin Cindric, the winner of the Daytona 500 which was NASCAR's first race of the 2022 season, recalled the time he first spoke to his parents about his desire to become a race car driver.
On a recent episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast, Dale Jr. Download, the Team Penske driver revealed the discussion with his parents regarding his dream. He described how he refuted his father's objections, saying:
“I walked in my parent’s bedroom one night when I was nine years old. And it’s kind of a weird way to put it and I had no idea why I did, but I said, ‘I wanna have a life-changing discussion.’ My parents were like, ‘What is this?’ And I’m like, ‘I wanna be a racecar driver. I’ve always wanted to be one, I want to try, I want to do it.’ And my dad’s instantly like, ‘You’re gonna be too tall.’ ‘What about Michael Waltrip? What about Justin Wilson?’ I hit him back with those two and he was like, ‘Okay.’”
Cindric’s family, however, has been involved in racing for a long time. His maternal grandfather, Jim Trueman, was an IndyCar team owner, while his paternal grandfather, Carl Cindric, used to build engines. His father, Tim Cindric, has also been the long-time president of Team Penske.
What Tim Cindric said after son Austin won the NASCAR Daytona 500 as a rookie
In an interview with ESPN, Tim Cindric recalled what he told his son regarding his path to racing. He said:
“I always told him that there was never going to be a parachute from mom and dad. He was probably 10 years old and racing really wasn’t the road I wanted him to take. I told him when he was in high school that we’d been able to help him up to then, but he was going to have to go to college or if he went racing, he’d have to find his own way in racing.”
The 23-year-old driver will start Sunday’s NASCAR Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from 16th position at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Daytona 500 winner will look to bounce back at the newly reconfigured track after his last two rough races.
