MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Austin Cindric shook off a dismal start to the NASCAR Cup Series season with a fifth-place finish last week at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
The solid run for the Team Penske Ford driver came after finishes of 34th, 26th, 32nd, 34th and 19th in the first five races of the season.
“Yeah, it was definitely an important day from a points perspective, no doubt, for the team just having a small reward for the job that everyone has done so far to start the year with a lot of fast cars, but racing works in a lot of different ways and a lot of things are possible good or bad, so it’s nice to get the monkey off our back a little bit and be able to get a solid race finish under our belts,” Cindric said. “We’re looking forward to the weekend and trying to continue to build on that and continue building on the speed we’ve had.”
Cindric says being patient when things aren’t going well is important.
“I think that’s the key. It is just one race so far, but I think it’s not a surprise to our group, and I think circling back a few weeks, I think you have to look at yourself first and whether if that’s me as a driver, us as a team and I think it would be hard to identify things, especially in the first four weeks of the year that we would regret or feel like we put ourselves in those positions,” Cindric said.
“I think having the patience as a group, we have enough experience, but also enough experience together and enough processes together that you kind of just get lost in the work and that is the beauty of our schedule is that although there is the opportunity to get beat down four weeks in a row, there’s also the opportunity to get right back up the next week, so you kind of just lean into that and believe in that and believe in the work we’re doing. I think it really can be that simple if you trust yourself and those around you.”
NASCAR’s higher horsepower package will be in use this weekend as the series visits the .525-mile paperclip shaped Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
“I think Bowman Gray definitely helps, probably more than anywhere else we’ve been. And I also see Martinsville being the track that it has its intended impact, i.e. the intended impact of adding more horsepower,” Cindric said. “I think Martinsville stands to change the most just because we’re basically doing two U-turns and trying to force them out of the corners.
“That’s what it comes down to, especially later in the runs and using up rear tires. That’s what varies throughout a run, so if there’s anywhere that it’s gonna affect, I think it’s gonna affect Martinsville the most,” he continued. “I’m looking forward to seeing what that is. I think as a race team it’s pretty easy to determine with the factors that are gonna change, it’s just the magnitude or the things that maybe take a bit of guesswork and from there you get a good read in practice and see what we’ve got for the race.
“But a lot of the conditions are all very similar. You have similar weather, the same tire. The only thing that’s really changed is the power, so I’m looking forward to all that and seeing what changes.”
