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Charlotte, NORTH CAROLINA – AUGUST 27: Austin Cindric speaks with the media during NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day at Charlotte

This is the third time NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric has qualified for the Playoff. This year, he earned his in via a win at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

With time and experience comes confidence to do better. In his prior appearances, the No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver has made it to the Round of 12, finishing 12th in 2022 and 11th last season.

On a recent episode of the “Actions Detrimental” Podcast on Dirty Mo Media, host Denny Hamlin said Cindric won’t make it past the first Round of 16. The former NASCAR Xfinity Series and Daytona 500 Champion of Cindric has a different perspective.

Watch and See

“This is the first I’ve heard that,” Cindric said during the NASCAR Playoff Media Day on Wednesday. “I guess we’ll have to watch, won’t we?” (smiles)

“Execution is at a premium. I think the field is as competitive as it’s ever been. I don’t see anything but execution to determine who advances to the next rounds.

“There’s only 0ne year (2023) I’ve been a driver in a national series and haven’t made the Playoffs. So, it feels normal to be here, in the format and what it requires of you. Yes, it’s in the Cup Series, it’s super competitive and there are different challenges.”

Each Round of 16 Track Has Challenges

The remaining 10 races have a mix of superspeedway, speedway, short tracks and one road course enroute to the finale at Phoenix Raceway. Cindric said the challenges come down to several factors.

“I think there are definitely some tracks that are challenging from a mechanical standpoint,” he said. “At Bristol, it’s rare we don’t see a car have some sort of a tire failure or mechanical failure with that obviously being the cutoff for the first round.

“For me, I would say New Hampshire is the biggest question mark of tracks. It’s one of those places I haven’t gone to and said, ‘Yep, I totally figured out that place out.’ It’s a weird place.

“Otherwise, I feel pretty good about the schedule.

The tracks of WWTR and Bristol follow Darlington in the Round of 16.

“I think St. Louis, most probably look at that as their best opportunity for a base hit.  It’s not a very normal race track, but you can kind of look at it think, okay there’s Darlington and Bristol, this track isn’t as crazy.

“I think our group has our process really well dialed in, especially this year.”

I Want to be Invisible

Cindric doesn’t see his Team Penske crew as being an underdog this season. With this being their third post-season visit, he knows what they are capable of achieving.

However, the driver offered an interesting approach for the early portions of the cutoff format.

“I would love to be invisible for the first two rounds, because then I’ll make it the Round of 8,” Cindric said, smiling. “It’s what we’ve been waiting the whole year for, I’m excited to be at this point and go make it happen.

“Our team has done a great job the past few months to be prepared for these opportunities. Now is the fun part, where actually get to go do the job and not just talking about it. It feels like a lifetime ago we were in Daytona for the 500, or even at Bowman Gray.

“There’s 10 weeks left and I want to make these count. I want to have some positives for the off-season.”

 

Tim Packman Tim Packman is a journalist for Heavy.com covering NASCAR. He grew up around the short tracks of Western New York watching his dad, stepdad and step brother race. His uncle was the head starter at many area tracks and member of the FOAR Score Hall of Fame.

Tim’s passion for racing took him to the announcer’s tower and writing program stories for multiple tracks in the area, namely Lancaster National Speedway. In 2000, he moved to Mooresville, NC to become an award-winning journalist for NASCAR.com. He took a job with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as the team’s Communications Director and was part of two Daytona 500 wins and two NASCAR Championships.

The announcing experience led to becoming a Pit Reporter and News Director for MRN Radio. A return to the team side at Richard Childress Racing as the Director of Corporate Communications took place, which also included another Championship.

From 2015 to 2018, Tim returned to where his career began in 1994 – Lancaster National Speedway & Dragway – as the Track President. He earned Short Track Promoter of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017.

Upon returning to NC, he joined The Garage Shop as Communications Director and host of it’s Podcast and MAV-TV docuseries “Legacy of Speed” talking about Land Speed Racing at Bonneville, and other places.

Tim has hosted two other Podcasts, namely “Pub Table Racers,” and wrote three books. One was with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison titled, “Bobby Allison, a Racer’s Racer” and two Children’s books, “Funny Dan the Race Car Man” and “Petey the Pace Car.”

He also served in the US Navy. More about Tim Packman

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