NASCAR: Austin Cindric joins exclusive group with Daytona 500 win

Austin Cindric joined an exclusive group of drivers by winning both a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and this past Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Austin Cindric grabbed his maiden NASCAR Cup Series victory on the sport’s biggest stage, winning the Daytona 500 by a 0.036-second margin over Bubba Wallace on Sunday.

The win placed Cindric in an exclusive group, as he became just the fourth driver to win both the Xfinity Series championship and the Daytona 500, joining Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Austin Dillon.

Earnhardt won back-to-back Xfinity Series titles in 1998 and 1999 before winning the Great American Race in both 2004 and 2014.

Cindric, the 2020 champion in NASCAR’s second-tier series, is also the first driver since Earnhardt  to win the Daytona 500 after winning the opening race of the Xfinity Series season at Daytona International Speedway the year prior. Earnhardt pulled off that feat in 2003 to 2004.

Harvick won the Xfinity Series championship in 2001 and 2006 before winning the Daytona 500 in 2007. He is the only driver in this group to have a Cup Series title as well, though this is only Cindric’s first season competing for Cup Series points.

Dillon was the champion in the sport’s second-tier series in 2013 before winning the Great American Race in 2018, when he returned the #3 Chevrolet to the track’s victory lane on the 20-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s lone Daytona 500 win.

Cindric’s ability to quickly adapt in NASCAR is something he shares with the veterans in this group, plus the driver he has replaced at Team Penske.

Cindric joined this small group in just his second Daytona 500 start and his first regular season race as driver of the #2 Ford for Team Penske. He replaced Brad Keselowski, who left to join the newly renamed RFK (Roush Fenway Keselowski) Racing as a driver and co-owner.

Keselowski found success early in his career, winning at Talladega Superspeedway in just his fifth career Cup Series start and winning championships with Team Penske in the Xfinity Series in 2010 and the Cup Series in 2012. However, he has yet to win on the sport’s biggest stage, going 0 for 12 with Team Penske and finishing in ninth place on Sunday in his first start with RFK Racing.

For Cindric, the win comes in his eighth career Cup Series start, and he also won his Xfinity Series championship with Team Penske. Ironically, Keselowski was one of the drivers with whom he battled for the win after an overtime restart in Sunday’s race.

Quick success is something that Cindric also shares with Harvick and Earnhardt Jr.

Harvick picked up his first Cup Series win in just his third start after Earnhardt Sr.’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500 led to Harvick’s early promotion. Harvick’s Daytona 500 win came in his sixth try. Earnhardt Jr.’s first Cup Series win came in his 12th career start, while he won the Daytona 500 in his fifth attempt.

Cindric has shown the ability to adapt quickly in his young NASCAR career. He admitted that he wasn’t fully prepared when he first raced full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2018.

“When I drove my first Xfinity Series race here at Daytona, I was not ready to go Xfinity racing and I proved it,” said Cindric in a post-race media availability. “But sometimes you don’t get to pick those opportunities. BKR (Brad Keselowski Racing) shuts down, I have to go to Xfinity, I have no (NASCAR Truck Series) opportunities…you have to make the most of things.”

Cindric was able to make the most of things, going from no wins and seven top five finishes in the 2018 Xfinity Series season to two wins and 14 top five finishes the following year before winning six races and the championship in his third season.

Now in the Cup Series, he took his experience from competing in last year’s Daytona 500 and last week’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel #1 qualifying race to help him win the big event.

“I was probably 20% throttle for most of the last lap, just trying to stay relatively close to where I could at least defend something,” said Cindric. “I knew if I got to the tri-oval and I was a nose ahead, I would get it. I think I actually learned that Thursday night.”

Cindric’s maiden NASCAR Cup Series win puts him in an exclusive group of drivers to win both an Xfinity Series title and the Daytona 500, and it showed that he can also adapt quickly and find early success in NASCAR like the other veterans in this group.