AVONDALE, Ariz. — There was a point during the heart of NASCAR’s COVID-19 hiatus where Roger Penske considered shutting down the No. 22 Xfinity Series team for a few races.
The amount of uncertainty that lay ahead in the pandemic left Penske wondering if pulling the team off the track was the best option. And that wasn’t a secret to Austin Cindric, who was now essentially racing for his job.
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“I had a very good idea that was a possibility,” Cindric said. “We’ve had great success since that point in the year. I’m not sure that’s a catalyst for it, but that’s a lot of motivation.”
If only the explanation was that simple for how Cindric went from a driver mostly known as a road racer to a frequent Xfinity Series winner and ultimately the 2020 champion. In reality, it’s been a long journey of constant improvement for Cindric.
As a 10-year-old, he proclaimed he wanted to be a race car driver. His father Tim Cindric — the Team Penske president — tried to talk him out of it.
“You’re too tall to be a race car driver,” Tim said.
“That’s not true. Michael Waltrip is taller than you, Dad,” Austin replied.
Congrats 2020 Xfinity series champ @AustinCindric! 🤓 https://t.co/txit50sptQ
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Tim had his reasons. He’d lived the racing life and seen how difficult it was for drivers to make it without some kind of backing. And contrary to the public perception, Tim said, there was “no parachute” from the Cindrics that would fund Austin’s career. Despite sharing a last name, Austin needed to prove himself on his own — something that has extended all the way through this year, when Penske negotiated with the driver individually and kept Tim out of the loop.
“This was not because of Tim Cindric,” Penske said. “This was because of Austin Cindric.”
As a teenager, Austin struggled in Bandolero and Legend cars, but gradually improved. At his first test, he was jokingly instructed to come out from the garage onto the track and drive the wrong way on the quarter-mile track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Unfortunately, the joke sailed right over Cindric’s tall head, and he spent 10 laps going the opposite direction around the oval until they got him to stop.
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But Cindric only needs to be told something once and then figures it out, soaking up information like a sponge. So when he absorbed all the lessons through racing at the Summer Shootout (not just which way to drive around the track), he gradually improved.
That’s something the 22-year-old has carried with him all the way to the NASCAR level: “It’s not about where you start; it’s how you grow yourself.”
Cindric grew as a driver in sports car racing. He grew in rally cars, even after incidents like a notable clash with Scott Speed. And he proved to Ford and to Roger Penske — the man who taught him how to shake hands as a youngster — that he deserved a shot in stock cars as well.
“You’re going to learn as much from a bad day as much as you are from a good day — probably more,” Tim Cindric said. “… I’ve always encouraged him to take advantage of whatever is the most difficult thing. Nobody at my (executive decision-making) level looks at how many trophies you’ve won in Legend (cars).”
It may have taken awhile to produce results at the NASCAR level, but they’re certainly evident now. After winning twice in his first 80 starts, Cindric went to victory lane in six of his most recent 20 races — including Saturday at Phoenix Raceway, which earned his first NASCAR championship. The road racing ace? He ended up winning more oval races this year (four) than on road courses (two).
“It’s been a long time coming,” Cindric said.
.@AustinCindric was pulling away when a caution forced overtime and put him back in third place.
On his drive back to the front to win the championship, @JeffBurton said Cindric was an incredible driver with his hands, feet, and brain. #NASCAR #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/RnwgPB8j0G
— #NASCARPlayoffs on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 8, 2020
Brian Wilson, Cindric’s crew chief, said the Xfinity Series improvement was a three-year process rather than something that magically happened in July.
Behind the scenes, Cindric carries a heavy load of homework. The team has a long history of detailed notes and frequently does film review. All that has led to Wilson being able to figure out race setups that work for Cindric, who requires a completely different feel from the car than other drivers Wilson has dealt with, like Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano or Ryan Blaney.
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“We’ve tried to build a team around him that really embraces that (preparation),” Wilson said.
Part of the success has been an improved ability to simply finish races. Chase Briscoe, Cindric’s friend and chief competitor, said the Penske driver has been too aggressive at times in the past and torn up his cars.
“This year he’s done a great job of making sure he’s there, he’s in the hunt,” Briscoe said. “That’s half the battle. If you’re up front at these races you have a chance to win them and be there to win it, and that’s something in the past that if you get wrecked out early you’re not doing that.”
To Briscoe’s point, Cindric had 11 DNFs due to crashes in his first 80 races. During his successful run this summer and fall, Cindric crashed out of a race just once — and that was at Talladega.
“Like any athlete, you get better,” Penske said. “We’ve tried to give him good equipment. You can see today he was flawless, restart after restart. He’s a pro and he’s a champion today.
“I just think it’s really part of learning and growing up.”
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Jeff Gluck has been traveling on the NASCAR beat since 2007, with stops along the way at USA Today, SB Nation, NASCAR Scene magazine and a Patreon-funded site, JeffGluck.com. He's been hosting tweetups at NASCAR tracks around the country since 2009 and was named to SI's Twitter 100 (the top 100 Twitter accounts in sports) for five straight years.
