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2022 Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as a rookie in the 2022 campaign. The Team Penske driver has had an up-and-down season so far, with immense highs from winning the Daytona 500 to not-so-good results such as his DNF at Michigan International Speedway earlier this year.
The 24-year-old has managed to start his playoffs campaign with somewhat lukewarm results. Cindric has sat out of the top 10 in two playoff races so far and aims to turn that around this weekend.
Driving the #2 Snap-On Ford Mustang, Austin Cindric finished in P12 last Sunday at Kansas Speedway. The Hollywood Casino 400 saw the Columbus, Ohio native fail to breach into the top 10 as Ford Mustangs all over the field struggled for pace on the 1.5-mile-long track. The top 10 saw only one Ford-manufactured car with Ryan Blaney behind the wheel of his #12 Menards car.
Cindric believes he was unlucky on the final restart of the day during the 400-mile-long race and spoke to the media post-race, saying:
“I felt like we made the car better all day and we just got hosed at one point on a restart, the final restart there. We lost all the spots that I had gained and we never got those back. I just drove the car too hard trying to make it up and got too loose by the end of the race. Overall, like I said, we didn’t beat ourselves. We check that box the last two weeks. Bristol will be a big unknown and big challenge. We can’t take points for granted. I feel like we gave a few away today.”
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the second time this year with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race scheduled to go live this Sunday.
Austin Cindric speaks on what he needs to do to qualify for the next playoffs round
Team Penske driver Austin Cindric believes he and the #2 crew have given away a lot of crucial points in the first two races of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. The young 24-year-old Daytona 500 champion heads into this Sunday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race with a winning mindset as he elaborated last weekend.
Cindric finished in P12 last Sunday and looked forward to the weekend in Bristol, saying:
“Well, a guarantee would be to win. I want to win at Bristol, that would be awesome. I have had a lot of heartache at Bristol, okay? I would like to change that but maybe I will just take moving on to the next round. I have a lot of work ahead and a lot of really good guys I am going to have to beat.”
Catch Austin Cindric's race this Sunday in the third NASCAR playoffs race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
