Austin Cindric’s Father, Who Was Fired After the IndyCar Scandal, Is Willing to Wait Till the Right Thing Arrives

Austin Cindric continues driving for Team Penske even as his father, Tim Cindric, navigates life after being dismissed from the organization’s IndyCar program in May following a cheating scandal. While Austin carries on behind the wheel, Tim is keeping himself occupied and weighing new opportunities, both in racing and possibly well outside its orbit. After three decades spent running major operations for Bobby Rahal and Roger Penske, he is taking a moment to catch his breath before deciding what comes next.

Tim Cindric served as president of Team Penske’s entire racing operation from 2005 through 2024. In February 2025, he stepped back from that overarching role to focus solely on overseeing Team Penske’s IndyCar program and its museum. Alongside those duties, he acted as the chief race strategist for Josef Newgarden.

Newgarden, a two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner, and teammate Will Power were found to have an illegally modified part on their cars before the final round of qualifications for the 109th Indianapolis 500.

As a result, IndyCar suspended both Cindric and Ron Ruzewski for the race, and both teams were fined $100,000. Since then, he has been seeking opportunities. Tim recently issued a statement reflecting on his unexpected downtime.

“I’ve just been catching up on life. I’ve had some interesting inquiries within and outside of motorsport, but I haven’t committed anything yet to speak of. It’s just the way it is. There’s certainly more to life than motorsport. I’m finding out that’s all I’ve done all my life. But I’m open-minded to interesting inquiries within and outside of motorsport.”

When asked what currently fills his days, Tim explained, “I have a few other business interests that occupy some of my time, but they’re really nothing worth talking about. So, it’s not a whole lot going on as far as the motorsport world’s concerned. Like I said, I’m open to it, but I’ll probably be pretty selective to what I get myself into next.”

While he is resting and evaluating the next chapter, Austin is in Australia competing in the Supercars series. In years past, Tim would have hopped on a plane without hesitation to make another race-related trip, but this time he chose differently.

Instead of traveling, he stayed home to spend Thanksgiving with his extended family in Ohio, to enjoy a moment of stillness for someone whose life has long revolved around constant motion.

About the author

Neha Dwivedi

Neha Dwivedi is an experienced NASCAR Journalist at The SportsRush, having penned over 5500 articles on the sport to date. She was a seasoned writer long before she got into the world of NASCAR. Although she loves to see Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch win the races, she equally supports the emerging talents in the CARS Late Model and ARCA Menards Series.. For her work in NASCAR she has earned accolades from journalists like Susan Wade of The Athletic, as well as NASCAR drivers including Thad Moffit and Corey Lajoie. Her favorite moment from NASCAR was witnessing Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. win the championship trophies. Outside the racetrack world, Neha immerses herself in the literary world, exploring both fiction and non-fiction.

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