Austin Cindric got a rare Cup Series victory at the World Wide Technology Raceway last Sunday. Turning the dials of time back some years, when the Team Penske star was racing in the Xfinity Series, victory lane wasn’t such a strange place to be in for him. Could the past success and the excitement of new venues push him to take up a part-time schedule in the second tier?
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Cindric believes that a driver, or at least he, would do better if all the focus was on a single front. Considering the differences that are between the Cup Series car and the Xfinity Series car, transitioning between the two is a tall challenge for any driver. And he knows that first-hand from the experience he had of running in both back in 2021.
He said, “I feel like some guys might feel differently, but for me when I did double duty races in 2021 it was really difficult. Even then with the cars being as similar as they were. Whereas right now they’re not very similar. I mean you listen to Chase Elliott talk about how different that Xfinity car felt for him.”
Elliott had made an appearance in the Xfinity Series at Charlotte during the Coca-Cola 600 weekend. He ended up winning the race. Cindric doesn’t want to have any distractions that would prevent him from putting 100% of himself behind his Cup Series efforts. He continued to contend that the choice depends on what drivers want to prioritize.
The massive success Austin Cindric had in the Xfinity Series
Cindric’s first full-time season in the second tier was in 2019. Driving the #22 Team Penske Ford, he collected two victories and multiple top-5 finishes. In 2020, he had a memorable season with six victories that led to him being crowned the Xfinity Series champion. All the good work that he put up resulted in him being given a part-time promotion to the Cup Series in 2021.
A big part of Cindric’s opinion of focusing on a single front comes from his experience in that season. While he garnered five victories in the Xfinity Series, he failed to create an impact in the premier tier. He went on to end up losing the battle for a second Xfinity championship and moved full-time to the Cup Series the next year. He has two wins in three seasons since the transition.
