NASCAR CUP SERIES: DAYTONA 500

February 20, 2022

Austin Cindric

Front Stretch

An Interview with:

Q. Austin Cindric has wanted to be a race car driver his entire life. He's raced everything. You made it to the top level, a rookie in the Cup Series. Austin, you are a Daytona 500 champion.

AUSTIN CINDRIC: Oh, my God. Do you know what makes it all better? A packed house. A packed house at the Daytona 500.

Oh, my God. I've got so many people to thank. First and foremost Roger Penske, happy birthday. Oh, my gosh. Appreciate Ryan being a great teammate. Obviously he wants to win this one, but I'm so pumped for Discount Tire, Menards, Ford. Everybody works so hard with this Next-Gen car, through this whole process, and damn, I am so excited.

This makes up for losing a championship last race I did.

Q. You're an Xfinity Series champion, but this is a whole new ballgame. I know you've spent a lot of time working just this week on drafting and doing things the right way. How did you adapt so quickly to get it done when it counted on the last lap?

AUSTIN CINDRIC: I'm surrounded by great people. That's all there is to it. I know there's going to be highs and lows, being a rookie in a field of drivers this strong. I'm just grateful for the opportunity, excited to climb the mountain we've got ahead of us on the 2 team.

But we're in the playoffs. That's one good box checked. My gosh, what an awesome group of fans, what an awesome race car. Just really thankful.