Austin Cindric: From Sports Car Prodigy to Daytona 500 Winner

Austin Cindric is an American driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for Team Penske. He won the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and the 2022 Daytona 500, and he has also raced sports cars, rallycross and Supercars. His route to stock car racing ran through several disciplines, which gave him a wide base of experience.

Who is Austin Cindric?

Austin Louis Cindric was born on 2 September 1998. He drives the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske in the Cup Series, and he has a part-time Supercars seat with Tickford Racing. His father, Tim Cindric, was Team Penske's president, and his family connection to the team has been a constant in his career.

He graduated from Cannon School in Concord, North Carolina, on 18 May 2017, hours before he raced in a Truck Series event at the nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway. That schedule reflected a driver who was already competing at national level while still in school.

A driver who found his path through rallycross and sports cars before a Daytona 500 win made him a Team Penske regular.

How did Cindric start out in racing?

Cindric began in semi-professional legends car and Bandolero racing in North Carolina. He then attended the Skip Barber Racing School and raced in the U.S. F2000 National Championship in 2013 and 2014, with Andretti Autosport and then Pabst Racing Services. In 2014 he also started rallycross, winning bronze on debut at X Games Austin 2014.

In 2013 he finished seventeenth in points for Andretti Autosport, with a best result of seventh in the season finale. In 2014 he switched to Pabst Racing Services and finished fourteenth in points, with a second-place podium on the oval at Lucas Oil Raceway. The same year he won a race in a Porsche 944 in Historic Sportscar Racing.

His early rallycross work came in 2014, when he entered the Global RallyCross Championship Lites category. He took the bronze medal on his debut at X Games Austin 2014.

What did Cindric achieve in sports car racing?

Cindric moved into sports cars in October 2014, when he made his IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge debut at Road Atlanta with David Levine as co-driver. He finished seventeenth in that race and was named to the Porsche North American Junior Academy during the same year.

In 2015, at the age of seventeen, he became the youngest driver to compete in the Bathurst 12 Hour. He drove the No. 63 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG for Erebus Motorsport and finished 21st overall and seventh in class. That summer he joined Multimatic Motorsports full-time in the CTSCC and won a race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, becoming the youngest winner in the series.

He drove the No. 6 McLaren for K-PAX Racing in the Pirelli World Challenge in 2016. Years later, in 2024, he was picked for the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona after Ben Barker broke a collarbone in a skiing accident over the holidays.

How did Cindric move into NASCAR trucks?

Cindric made his ARCA Racing Series debut in July 2015 at Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 99 for Cunningham Motorsports, and he started and finished fourth. That same year he made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series at Martinsville, driving the No. 29 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing as a substitute.

In 2016 he added two K&N Pro Series East wins, at Virginia International Raceway and Watkins Glen International, and he recorded his first ARCA win at Kentucky Speedway. Later that year he made his restrictor-plate debut at Talladega, finishing 20th. Brad Keselowski Racing then announced he would run the Truck Series full-time in 2017.

The 2017 season was a turning point. Cindric grabbed the pole for the lone road course race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, led the most laps, and then made contact with Kaz Grala on the final lap, going on to win. The move drew criticism from other drivers, including Justin Allgaier and Christopher Bell, and it helped him secure a playoff berth in the team's final season. He finished that year third in the Truck Series standings.

Within days of the Mosport race, Cindric entered a rallycross event and collided with Scott Speed as both came out of a joker lap. The two drivers argued afterwards, and the episode added to the scrutiny of his early driving.

What was Cindric's Xfinity Series career like?

Cindric first drove for Team Penske in the Xfinity Series in August 2017, in the No. 22 car at Road America. In 2018 he ran the full Xfinity schedule across three different Ford Mustangs, including the No. 60 car of Roush Fenway Racing. He won his first Xfinity pole at Iowa in the fourteenth race of that season.

The 2018 season also brought a violent crash at Daytona, where he barrel-rolled twice in turn two. Later that year he was turned by Ryan Truex at Darlington, which spun him out and left him 40th. The Roush car he drove that year attracted notoriety for its accidents.

Penske announced on 8 November 2018 that Cindric would run its No. 22 full-time in 2019, with MoneyLion as the primary sponsor for eighteen races. In August 2019 he won his first Xfinity races, back-to-back road course victories at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio, and he finished sixth in points after a seventh-place run at Homestead.

How did Cindric win the 2020 Xfinity championship?

Cindric won the 2020 Xfinity championship after a run of victories that began in July at Kentucky Speedway. He won the Shady Rays 200 and the Alsco 300 on consecutive days, the first driver to win two national series races at the same track on successive days since Richard Petty in 1971.

He then won a seven-race stretch in which he either won or finished second, including his third straight Texas win after Kyle Busch's disqualification and back-to-back road course wins at Road America and the Daytona road course. He claimed the regular-season championship with a tenth-place finish in the finale at Richmond, entered the playoffs with five wins, and won the title at Phoenix.

Across the season he led all drivers with nineteen top-five and 26 top-ten finishes, and he topped the non-playoff points standings.

What happened to Cindric's 2021 Xfinity season?

Cindric returned to the No. 22 Ford for 2021 and won at Daytona in February. He added wins at Phoenix, Dover, Pocono and the Indianapolis road course, and he led much of the regular season standings. In the regular-season finale at Bristol he made contact with A. J. Allmendinger coming to the finish, slid across the line and finished runner-up.

The championship then slipped away on the last lap of the Phoenix finale, when Daniel Hemric passed him in turn three to take the title. The result was a close run for a driver who had come so close to repeating his 2020 success.

How did Cindric's Cup career begin?

Cindric's first Cup appearances were as a substitute. In 2019 he stood in for Brad Keselowski in final practice at Atlanta, when Keselowski was ill, and he was on standby for the race. In September he filled in for Michael McDowell at the Bank of America Roval 400 while McDowell was treated for a kidney stone.

Penske announced in October 2020 that Cindric would run part-time in the Cup Series in 2021 before moving up full-time in 2022. His first start came in the 2021 Daytona 500, where he finished fifteenth after a fiery last-lap crash. He led laps at Circuit of the Americas and at Road America, and he scored his first Cup top ten at Indianapolis, finishing ninth.

How did Cindric win the 2022 Daytona 500?

Cindric won the 2022 Daytona 500 on 20 February 2022 in his first full-time Cup season. It was only his eighth Cup start, and he became the ninth driver to win his first Cup race in the Daytona 500. At 23 he was the second-youngest driver to win the race.

The win was Team Penske's third Daytona 500 victory, after Ryan Newman in 2008 and Joey Logano in 2015. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for the team's No. 2 car. The following week he took pole at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and finished twelfth, which carried him to the points lead for two weeks in a row.

He finished the 2022 season twelfth in points and won NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He was eliminated in the Round of 12 after finishing 21st at the Charlotte Roval.

What were Cindric's later Cup seasons like?

The 2023 season was a difficult one. Cindric started with a 23rd-place finish at the Daytona 500, rarely finished inside the top ten and missed the playoffs. He finished 24th in points, with one top-five and five top-ten finishes, and the following season he returned to victory lane at Gateway.

In 2024 he took 22nd at the Daytona 500, then scored his second career win at Gateway, ending an 85-race winless streak after Christopher Bell lost an engine and Ryan Blaney ran out of fuel. He was eliminated in the Round of 12 once again at the Charlotte Roval.

The 2025 season began with an eighth-place finish at the Daytona 500. After the COTA race he was docked 50 driver points and fined US$50,000 for hooking Ty Dillon. He then won at Talladega, beating Ryan Preece by 0.022 seconds to the line.

Career summary by series