NASCAR: 5 drivers in trouble heading into the off week
By Asher Fair
NASCAR playoff drivers in trouble: No. 4 – Austin Cindric
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Austin Cindric simply hasn’t been a factor in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, just one year removed from his Daytona 500 triumph as a rookie in the series. He qualified for the playoffs thanks to that victory, but he really hasn’t done much since.
Cindric has just two top 10 finishes so far this season, and 10 of his 16 starts have ended outside of the top 20. And only two of those finishes are DNFs; he simply hasn’t run all that well. He has finished higher than 19th place just once in the last 10 events.
While Ford and Team Penske haven’t had the best of seasons to begin with, teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have both found victory lane and sit in the top nine in the point standings with a combined nine top three finishes.
Fortunately for Cindric, in addition to his success in superspeedway events, he also excels in road course racing. One of his season-best sixth place finishes came at Circuit of the Americas back in late March.
Five of the regular season’s final 10 races are superspeedway races or road/street course races, so don’t rule out some strong points days or perhaps even a win for Cindric to make the playoffs for the second straight year.