Austin Cindric leaves Kansas in must-win situation

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — With a 39th place finish on Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, Austin Cindric certainly will have to climb out of a huge points deficit after being involved in a crash on the very first lap of the Kansas Lottery 300.

The incident was a result of contact made between Justin Allgaier and Christopher Bell. Cindric had nowhere to go and was collected in the incident. “It was just a racing incident,” Cindric told Ford Performance.

“You don’t really expect something that big to happen in front of you on the first lap. Looked like the 7 got loose into the 20 and we got collected. It is unfortunate that it happened that early. Huge points implications on my end and the owners championship end. I have to put my head down the next couple weeks and figure it out.”

Cindric praised NASCAR and the team for providing safe cars throughout the season to allow him to escape uninjured.

“I am proud to be in safe racecars and be able to be safe,” the 20-year old said. “I have visited the care center more times than I care to admit this year. It is a credit to everyone building the cars and the NASCAR medical staff and everyone that makes these cars as safe as they are.”

Cindric entered the Kansas Lottery 300 10 points below the playoff cutline. With two races remaining in the second round, Cindric now finds himself 43 points below the cutline to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Cindric feels confident that his team will rebound in the next events at Texas Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway,

“Well, now I have to go figure out how to win one of the next two races,” Cindric said. Three of the strongest cars were just taken out on the first lap. I feel like we had a chance to win the race today. I was really proud of what the Penske guys brought me this weekend, but that is racing.

“I think this hurts me a lot more than it hurts the 20 and the 7 because they had a huge points cushion and I didn’t. It is that simple. I have to win one of the next two races but we have a pretty good notebook since the 22 car won both Texas and Phoenix in the spring. I have a lot of confidence going into those races.”

Cindric finished ninth and 16th respectively earlier this year at the respective racetracks behind the wheel of the No. 12 with Team Penske at Texas and the No. 60 with Roush Fenway Racing at ISM Raceway.