Is this NASCAR driver coasting in Kansas? Hardly. He wants to defend his Xfinity title
NASCAR Xfinity driver Austin Cindric seems to be in a perfect position.
Cindric is the defending Xfinity series champion and has won five races in the Team Penske No. 22 Mustang, tied for the most in the series. That performance has helped earn him a promotion for next year to the No. 2 NASCAR Cup Ford being vacated by Brad Keselowski.
But Cindric doesn’t plan on coasting through the Xfinity playoffs.
“I’m way too competitive for that,” said Cindric, who will enter Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 second in the Xfinity playoffs, trailing A.J. Allmendinger by four points. “I haven’t even honestly thought about 2022, with the exception of some Next Gen tests that are coming up. Otherwise, I’m pretty focused on this, whether it’s for me and my own personal reasons and motivations, or for my team, as well.
“I’ve been with the same group of guys throughout the majority of my Xfinity career, and I wouldn’t be the driver I am without them, so I’m excited to try and finish this off on the highest note possible.”
Because John Hunter Nemechek, a non-playoff driver, won last week at Texas, all eight playoff drivers need to win on Saturday at Kansas or next week at Martinsville to ensure transfer into the Championship Four at Phoenix.
This championship could come down to Cindric and Allmendinger, a former 14-year Cup regular and this year’s Xfinity regular-season champion with five wins.
The two had a wild 1-2 finish at Bristol last month, in which they traded paint at the start of the final lap and at the end when both cars slid sideways across the finish line with the 39-year-old Allmendinger winning by .082 seconds.
A rivalry was born.
“Any time you race against a driver with AJ’s caliber, it just raises your standards, whether that’s how you approach a race weekend or the lengths you’ll go in a race to strive for perfection and being fast,” said Cindric, 22. “That’s why it’s great to have Cup drivers come race against us.
“AJ and I, in general, have a pretty good relationship. We did talk after Bristol, and I think I understand where he’s coming from. There’s something to be said for where he’s at in his life and his career and how motivated he still is.
“t certainly confirmed some things for me as far as the length in which he would go to in certain racing situations. For me, I don’t think it changes how I race. I intend to race for a championship in a certain way and … I don’t intend to change that right now. I certainly hope to continue that and hope to put ourselves in position to do so.”
Having been through a playoff run last year, could Cindric hold an advantage over Allmendinger and the other six playoff drivers?
“I think yes and no,” Cindric said. ”Mostly no. He’s a professional, and he’s done this his entire life, a lot longer than I’ve been driving race cars, so I’m not particularly concerned about racing just one individual car. For us, it’s the road to Phoenix and nothing else really matters.”
Cindric claimed the 2020 title by winning the championship race at Phoenix, and said, “If I get to that final four, I know what mentality I need, but the hardest part about this playoffs is getting there.”
Cindric’s biggest obstacle may be Kansas Speedway, where he is winless in four starts. His best finish was in the 2020 summer race, when he led 131 laps only to finish second to Brandon Jones, also a playoff driver.
Cindric crashed in 2018, was 28th in 2019 and placed 28th last fall.
“I have not left Kansas in a playoff race without a destroyed race car,” Cindric said at the start of the playoffs. “I’m already worried about Kansas. I’ll sleep with one eye open, I guess. It’s certainly a challenge and I think for us as a race team the mile-and-a-half racetracks have probably been our weakness, if we’ve had one.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 10:00 AM.