Austin Cindric is all set to enter the playoffs for the second straight year thanks to his Talladega victory back in April. Fresh off a top-five finish at Richmond last Saturday, he will head to Daytona eyeing another win and valuable playoff points. Like every driver though, he has endured his share of brutal races as well to reach where he is now. For many, a bad day might mean sweltering heat or sheer exhaustion. But for Cindric, the worst came back in 2020 during his Xfinity days.
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On Jeff Gluck’s 12 Questions segment, Cindric said, “It has to be the 2020 Bristol Xfinity race,” as the most miserable he had ever felt in a race car. He explained, “I passed Ross Chastain on a restart to take the lead and drove off. It was a 40-lap run, but five laps into the run, I lost power steering. At Bristol. Old car. And I held on to the lead until six laps to go.”
He further described the agony, “I was bending the steering wheel in my hands. Like physically, there was nothing I could do. I had gone through all this pain just to lose it with six laps to go.
“I’ve never been in tears because of physical pain and strain before, but just to lose like that, it sucked hard. The tough part about being miserable in a race car is you’re trapped in the car, alone. No one can help you.”
That night, Cindric felt defeated in his own mind. Yet he admitted the race taught him more about himself, testing how badly he wanted success. Though uncertain of the scale then, he realized he craved it enough to keep proving it to himself.
Cindric said the hardest moment came afterward in the media center, when race winner Chase Briscoe asked, “Hey man, did you just get tight? What happened?” With no interest in explaining, Cindric simply replied, “Sure, I got tight. Leave me alone.”
Reflecting back then, Cindric had admitted, “I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life. I’ve never felt such pain in a race car. My body went numb for a while… I’ve never lost a race that way.”
However, although nothing can take over his feeling of misery from that race, given that Team Penske has performed quite well in the playoffs over the past few seasons, Cindric‘s performance in the playoffs, a championship win, or at least an entry into the Championship 4 might heal his wounds to some extent. Maybe.
