Austin Cindric is one of 16 drivers currently vying for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship in the playoffs. After this battle, he will be flying over to Australia to be a part of the field for the BP Adelaide Grand Finale.
Advertisement
The news was only announced recently and has led to the question of whether the Team Penske superstar has prior experience racing on tracks in the land down under.
Interestingly, Cindric has tested Supercar machinery twice in the past. When he was just 15 years old, in 2014, he drove an ex-Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon FG.
A couple of years later, he found himself behind the wheel of a main game Supercar, a Falcon FG X, in which he spent an entire day testing for DJR Team Penske. The test had been organized by his father, Tim Cindric.
He was set to make an appearance in the 2017 Super2 finale in Newcastle, but last-minute scheduling conflicts prevented him from doing so.
When the Grand Finale goes down from November 27-30 this year, Cindric will be the only international driver (as things stand) on the 25-car field. He now enters the game as a Supercars rookie. So, not much can be expected from him in terms of results at the sharp end.
The Adelaide circuit is a challenging place to race at. Even with the third Tickford Racing Mustang, only so much can be asked of Cindric. Hopefully, his versatile experience in multiple racing disciplines will help him make a mark before returning home stateside.
While still a teen, the No. 2 Penske Ford driver made a short foray into sports car racing to make two Bathurst 12 Hour starts in 2015 and 2016 with Erebus Motorsport. He spoke about this experience and more during a recent appearance on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast.
He said, “For those that don’t know, I’ve raced in Australia in my past. Done the Bathurst 12 Hour twice, which is different than Bathurst 1000. Done some testing down there, kind of a lifetime ago, almost 10 years ago.
“Kind of stayed in touch with a lot of those contacts through my connections with Ford and getting together with Tickford. Obviously, it’s a great team, great car, great teammates, at one of their coolest events of the year in Adelaide.”
So, for Austin Cindric, the racing adventure will continue even when the NASCAR season is over.
