Ever since Roger Penske cut ties with three high-ranking individuals in the team's IndyCar organization, including team president Tim Cindric, following the emergence of the team's latest IndyCar scandal in Indy 500 qualifying, there has been talk about Austin Cindric's future in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Though Tim has never been directly involved with the deals Austin has had and how he has progressed and made his way up the NASCAR ladder with Team Penske, the fact that they share a last name has led to the inevitable discussions of nepotism.
With Tim out, a certain portion of the NASCAR fanbase genuinely believes that Austin losing his ride behind the wheel of the No. 2 Ford after the 2025 season is a sure thing.
Cindric, who won the 2020 Xfinity Series championship and nearly repeated in 2021, has definitely been the weakest of Team Penske's trio since joining the team full-time in 2022. But considering the team have won every championship since then with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, is that really saying much?
Austin Cindric Team Penske replacement rumor shot down
Cindric won the 2022 Daytona 500 in what was his first start as a full-time Cup driver, and he won at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway last year. He has also already presumably punched his third playoff ticket in four years with a win at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
For certain drivers, superspeedway wins are seen by the NASCAR fanbase as "flukes", simply because those drivers don't have the same success elsewhere. But Cindric is a consistent frontrunner whenever the series visits a superspeedway, so his two wins at such venues were anything but fluky.
And while his Gateway win may have been a fluke in that Blaney ran out of fuel on the final lap to hand his teammate the win, Cindric still ran second up to that point, disproving the idea that he is only fast at superspeedways.
Additionally, his overall production has improved in 2025. Without a points penalty he received earlier this year, he'd be sitting inside the top 10 in the point standings, just behind Blaney in seventh and Logano in eighth.
As far as "weak links" go, Team Penske could certainly do a lot worse than Cindric.
And according to Penske himself, the rumors of Cindric losing his ride are baseless.
Caught up with Roger Penske for a few minutes today. Will post more comments over next couple days but with all the chatter about Austin Cindric after his dad was dismissed, here is what Roger Penske said in giving Austin a vote of confidence (he’s good at least through 2026) pic.twitter.com/gkHBnT3jSY
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 31, 2025
This statement is particularly notably because of the fact that there have been similar replacement rumors surrounding Will Power at Team Penske's IndyCar team.
And in that case, Penske has indeed been noncommittal about Power's future, or lack thereof, with the team. He isn't sugarcoating anything; Power does not have a contract that goes beyond 2025, and David Malukas has long been rumored to be in the catbird seat to replace him.
So the idea that Penske isn't being transparent about Cindric's future is nonsense, as are the rumors that Tim's untimely exit automatically means that the No. 2 Ford will have a new driver in 2026.