By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Following an up-and-down rookie campaign in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Austin Cindric had a shot at the championship race.
Driving three cars across two organizations, Cindric kept his name in the hat for a shot at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The competition, however, beat him to it.
Finishing fourth in Saturday’s Whelen Trusted to Perform 200, Cindric was too far back to advance to next week. In fact, the 20-year-old was in a must-win situation at ISM Raceway and was in contention until outside factors injured his chances.
“I needed track position and a long green-flag run,” Cindric said. “Our Ford was definitely capable of winning the race today to lock us into Homestead. We didn’t get quite what we needed to in the third stage. We got three cautions we didn’t need.”
Earning a total of 17 stage points (finishing second and third) Cindric still had work to do to catch the likes of Justin Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell. These drivers combined to lead most of the afternoon and taught Cindric the ropes in only his second year of NASCAR racing.
“I’m not out here to prove much, I have the confidence in the team,” he said. “From there on out, it’s my job to represent my sponsors and go out and win. We were almost able to do that today but came up short.”
Approaching a full-time ride with Team Penske’s No. 22 in 2019, Cindric will take with him some lessons learned from a hectic 2018 year.
“It’s a good warm-up,” he said. “It’s a good place to be for my first year in the series, second year in stock car racing. But you always want more. I’m disappointed because I knew we could win today, it just wasn’t in the cards.
“I’m excited for Homestead next week, I think we have a good shot at going there and being a surprise winner.”