Austin Cindric

Cindric started his career in semi-professional legends car and Bandolero racing in North Carolina. After attending the Skip Barber Racing School to gain road racing experience, in 2013 and 2014 he raced in the U.S. F2000 National Championship. In 2013 he finished 17th in points driving for Andretti Autosport with a best finish of seventh in the season finale. In 2014 he switched teams to Pabst Racing Services, finishing 14th in points with a second place podium finish on the oval at Lucas Oil Raceway. He also competed in Historic Sports Car Racing, winning a race in a Porsche 944.[2]

Cindric's No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford F-150 at the Brad Keselowski Racing shop

In 2014, Cindric began competing in the Global RallyCross Championship Lites, winning the bronze medal in his debut at X Games Austin 2014.[3][4] In October, he made his IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge debut for Racers Edge Motorsports at Road Atlanta with David Levine as co-driver, finishing 17th.[2] During the year, he was named a member of the Porsche North American Junior Academy.[5] In 2015, at age 17, Cindric competed in the Bathurst 12 Hour, the youngest driver to compete in the event, driving the No. 63 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG for Erebus Motorsport;[6] he finished 21st overall and seventh in his class.[7] He began competing full-time in the CTSCC in 2015, driving for Multimatic Motorsports with Jade Buford as co-driver.[2] In July, he won the CTSCC race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, becoming the youngest (age 17) winner in the series.[8]

In 2016, he drove the No. 6 McLaren for K-PAX Racing in the Pirelli World Challenge.[9]

In July 2015, Cindric made his ARCA Racing Series debut at the #ThisIsMySpeedway 150 at Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 99 for Cunningham Motorsports;[6] Cindric started and finished fourth in the race.[10] He made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 29 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing at Martinsville as a substitute for Austin Theriault who was still recovering from his injury at Las Vegas.[11]

In addition to his Pirelli World Challenge schedule in 2016, he joined Martin-McClure Racing for two K&N Pro Series East events[9] and Brad Keselowski Racing in the No. 2 F-150 at Dover International Speedway.[12] His two K&N East starts resulted in victories at Virginia International Raceway and Watkins Glen International.[13] Later in the year, he recorded his first ARCA win at Kentucky Speedway.[14] That October, Cindric made his restrictor track debut at Talladega, finishing 20th. In November 2016, BKR announced Cindric would compete full-time in the Truck Series in 2017.[15]

During the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, he grabbed the pole for the season's lone road course race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Although he led the most laps that day, differing strategies saw Cindric behind Kaz Grala on the last lap. Cindric, on newer tires, made contact with Grala, causing the No. 33 to spin. Cindric went on to win and claim a playoff berth in team Brad Keselowski Racing's final season.[16] Grala claimed that he got run over, but Cindric marginalized his maneuver by calling it a "last resort" and claiming that it was justified by the need for a playoff spot. The move drew widespread criticism from other drivers, including Justin Allgaier and Christopher Bell.[17] A week after the Mosport incident, Cindric made a Global Rallycross start in which he collided with Scott Speed coming out of a joker lap. That led to a verbal confrontation from Speed afterwards and again drew the ire of the NASCAR community on social media.[18]

Cindric's No. 22 Xfinity Series car at Road America

In August 2017, Cindric joined Team Penske's No. 22 car for the Xfinity Series race at Road America.[19]

In 2018, Cindric ran the full season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, splitting time between three different Ford Mustangs: Penske's No. 12 and No. 22 Fords, and the No. 60 Ford of Roush Fenway Racing.[20] Cindric got his first pole at Iowa in the seasons 14th race, where the 22 car, which was the car he was driving in that race had a history of being fast, though he faded back to 11th in the race after finishing 2nd in stage 1. He was involved in a violent crash in the Daytona race, in which he barrel rolled twice in turn 2. In Cindric's last ride with the No. 60 Roush Fenway car at Darlington, he was turned by Ryan Truex exiting turn 4 on the third lap and spun out resulting in a 40th-place finish. The car, split between Cindric, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Majeski, attracted notoriety during the season for being involved in numerous accidents, ending the year with 28: 22 brought out a caution flag, six spins that did not produce a caution, and four wrecks during practice or qualifying.[21]

On November 8, 2018, Team Penske announced that Cindric would compete full-time in their No. 22 Ford Mustang in 2019. MoneyLion was the primary sponsor for 18 races, part of a multi-year deal with the team.[22]

In August 2019, Cindric scored his first career NXS wins with back-to-back road course victories at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio.[23][24] He finished the 2019 season sixth in points after finishing seventh at Homestead.[25]

Cindric scored his first oval victories in July 2020 at Kentucky Speedway, where he swept the weekend's Xfinity races Shady Rays 200 and Alsco 300.[26] He was the first driver to win national series races at the same track on two consecutive days since Richard Petty in 1971.[27] The victories began a seven-race stretch in which he won or finished second, including his third straight win at Texas Motor Speedway after Kyle Busch's disqualification and back-to-back road course victories at Road America and the Daytona road course.[28][29][30] He won the regular season championship with a tenth-place finish in the finale at Richmond, and entered the playoffs with five wins.[31] Cindric won at Phoenix to win the championship. Cindric also led the non-playoff points standings and led all drivers in top-fives and top-tens.[32]

During the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series' 2019 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Cindric replaced Brad Keselowski for final practice as Keselowski was experiencing flu-like symptoms.[33] Cindric remained on standby for the race,[34] but Keselowski ran the full event.[35] In September, Cindric once again served as a practice substitute driver, this time for Michael McDowell at the Bank of America Roval 400 while McDowell was being treated for a kidney stone.[36]

In October 2020, Team Penske announced Cindric would begin racing in the Cup Series in 2021 on a part-time basis before moving to a full-time ride with Wood Brothers Racing in 2022.[37] As part of his limited 2021 schedule, he entered the Daytona 500 in a No. 33 car.[38]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)