NASCAR: Austin Cindric matches Richard Petty mark from 1971

With his victory in Friday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Austin Cindric matched a Richard Petty mark set back in 1971.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric earned the first two victories of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career last August in back-to-back races at Watkins Glen International and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The 21-year-old Columbus, Ohio native entered this week on a 25-race win drought and with only those two road course victories to his name in 80 career starts, but he doubled his career win total in the doubleheader at Kentucky Speedway with the first two oval victories of his career.

Through the first 15 races of the 33-race 2020 season, Cindric sits in third place in the championship standings behind Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson, who have won five races and two races, respectively.

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Cindric led 41 laps of Thursday’s overtime-extended 136-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Sparta, Kentucky, and he came back on Friday night and dominated the 200-lap race, leading 130 laps en route to taking the checkered flag. At one point, he led by more than 12 seconds.

These two victories make Cindric the first driver in any NASCAR series to win races in the same series on back-to-back days in nearly five decades.

The last time that feat was pulled off in 1971, when Richard Petty won at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Wednesday, July 14 and then at Islip Speedway on Thursday, July 15. Cindric pulled it off at the same track.

Of course, there haven’t been many stretches with races on back-to-back days in recent years, with this year’s Xfinity Series doubleheaders having only been added due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cindric pulled off this feat in what was the second doubleheader on the revamped schedule. The first took place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in mid-June and was split by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton, who has also won two races this season, and Briscoe. There is one more doubleheader on this year’s schedule at Dover International Speedway in August.

The Cup Series has run one doubleheader this season, with that having been contested at Pocono Raceway at the end of June. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin finished in the top two in both races, with Harvick winning the first and Hamlin winning the second.

There are two more doubleheaders on this year’s schedule, both in August: one at Michigan International Speedway and one at Dover International Speedway

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The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the My Bariatric Solutions 300, which is scheduled to take place at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 18. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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