Austin Cindric Lives to Fight Another Day After Narrow Escape At Bristol

The Bristol Night Race’s outcome could have been guessed by none. After a roller coaster turn of events at the Last Great Colosseum on Saturday night, Austin Cindric was the last driver to advance to the Cup Series postseason’s Round of 12. The Team Penske driver has one too many gods to thank for favoring him amidst a literal show of fire and smoke at the short track.

With about 45 laps in the race, a dark trail of smoke began following the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The car had caught fire due to excess tire rubber building up inside the right front fender. Cindric drove it to the pit road, where the Team Penske crew worked on setting things right. Ultimately, they put him back on the race track, and the driver was able to salvage a 30th-place finish.

The result was enough to keep him in the game at the cost of the Hendrick Motorsports driver, Alex Bowman, who came up 10 points shy of the elimination line. He told the press, “Yeah, it’s not ideal. I had the fire there, and definitely held a lot of smoke, but huge credit to all my guys behind the wall, over the wall, to be prepared for a situation like that and to only lose five laps.”

He continued to thank his crew and added, “Looking forward to hitting the Round of 12 hard. I want to keep advancing through. This team is capable of a lot. I believe in this team. I believe in myself. I have not been driving as well as I am now in the Cup Series. It’s been a constant climb, and those around me reflect that.” Cindric’s next race will be at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He will have to approach the next round aggressively from the onset since he will be at the bottom end of the new cut. Team Penske remains undefeated in the Next Gen era as the only championship-winning team. Joey Logano won the title in 2022 and 2024, with Ryan Blaney grabbing the honor in the interim year. Can Cindric carve his name up there this season?

For now, his smoke-filled lungs scream “yes”. His realistic chances of doing so will come to light once he gets to New Hampshire, Kansas, and Charlotte in this upcoming round. Notably, he has never finished higher than 11th in the championship standings. At the very least, he will hope to score a result better than that.