Penske revival continues at Gateway

MADISON, IL – The Team Penske revival continued Sunday at Gateway, with Austin Cindric going to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series and Joey Logano finishing fifth. 

“You never know when it’s gonna happen again,” said Cindric, who hadn’t won in over two years. “I just drove my butt off and hoped for the best.”

Unfortunately for Penske, Cindric’s victory came at the expense of defending series champion and teammate Ryan Blaney. Blaney ran out of gas coming to the white flag in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300.

His No. 12 car came in 24th, limping to the checkered flag. 

“Just one lap short,” Blaney said. “That stinks, but congrats to the 2 team. They did a good job all day.”

Cindric and Blaney started the race second and third while Logano began 12th. Logano came into Sunday with high hopes, having won before at Gateway and showed speed during practice. 

Logano ignited the Penske revival two races ago when he won the NASCAR All-Star Race. Sunday was his third top-five of the season, and it’s a big one.

The two time NASCAR Cup Series champion moved from 30 points out of a playoff spot to 14 after Sunday.

“We were able to grab some points, which we need to do, and a Penske car got in victory lane, so you’ve got to be happy about that,” Logano said. “Obviously, we’d rather it be us, but that momentum goes through the whole shop. It’s still a good day.”

The win for Cindric came out of nowhere. Cindric finished the last three races in 20th, and only finished above 15th in Atlanta, where he finished fourth. He led 53 laps on Sunday, second only to Christopher Bell’s 80 laps led. 

The No. 2 car is now virtually locked into the playoffs, which will surely complicate the next 11 weeks for drivers around the cutline, including his two winless teammates. 

Ironically, Penske’s momentum in the past two weeks came with another last-lap pass, with Josef Newgarden’s last lap pass to win the Indianapolis 500 a week ago.

The Blue Ovals as a whole have begun to excel in recent weeks. Brad Keselowski won at Darlington and numerous Fords scatter themselves throughout the Top-10 week after week. 

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Wine Country next Sunday, with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway set to go green at 3:30 p.m. ET.