WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Austin Cindric started the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a 10th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway and heads to one of his most comfortable race tracks this weekend at Watkins Glen Int’l.
The Team Penske driver won the second state at Atlanta and moved to seventh place in the playoff standings after a wild finish jumbled the standings.
Cindric is happy to have a road course in the Round of 16 in the playoffs.
“I think it’s really cool that Watkins gets a playoff race,” Cindric said on Wednesday. “It’s one of the more traditional races that happens throughout the calendar and always super well attended. Having a road course race, the only one that’s been in the playoffs so far has been the Roval, and I’d say it’s pretty different than many most traditional road courses, but I would also argue that Watkins Glen is also very different compared to most traditional road courses, so it should be a fun one.”
Cindric entered the Cup Series in 2022 with a plethora of road racing experience, but he believes his Cup Series peers are on equal ground heading to Watkins Glen.
“I think of any road course, regardless of my experience, out of any road course on the schedule I feel like whether if it’s veteran drivers or younger drivers all have a lot of reps at Watkins Glen, and I would say it’s the most similar to an oval race just because of how high-speed the track is and somewhat one direction with the exception of the bus stop,” Cindric said. “Do I go in there thinking that I have a massive advantage over other guys?
“No, I don’t think so, but there’s a comfort level of driving at tracks like that for me that might not exist for other drivers, but past that I think there are some pretty talented guys in the field and road course racing has become definitely more important over the last decade in stock car racing than it has in decades prior, so I think everyone has really stepped up their game.
“You see that with the gap in the field. I’m sure in qualifying it will be separated by only a tenth of a second for probably 15 or 20 spots. That’s how it was last time we were there, so it should be no different. I’m not expecting a cake walk by any means.”
Team Penske started the playoffs with Cindric’s teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney finishing first and third at Atlanta, while Cindric came home third.
“It’s a great way to start, but it is just the start and it’s not a surprise to be able to run well on tracks like that,” Cindric said. “I’m not trying to downplay the run, but I think we all expected to be able to go out there and qualify well and have a chance at a win with all of our cars because that’s pretty much what every speedway event has been this year for our company. Like I said, I’m not trying to downplay the performance.
“It’s the playoffs and everything around it, but it’s important for us to capitalize on days like that, and I feel like we did a reasonable job at capitalizing on some of our strengths.”