Austin Cindric kicks off Cup rookie year with Daytona 500 victory

Last Sunday is a day that Austin Cindric will never forget. The Cup Series rookie held off last-second charges from Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney to win the Daytona 500, making him the first points race winner of the Next Gen car era and the first Rookie of the Year contender to win the legendary race.

Cindric started fifth, two rows behind reigning champion and pole sitter Kyle Larson. Duel #1 winner Brad Keselowski, who drove the #2 Team Penske Ford before Cindric replaced him for 2022, battled with Kyle Busch for the lead throughout the early laps before the first caution came out on lap 42 for Kaz Grala‘s wheel coming off, prompting Chase Briscoe to try to avoid him but was spun by Cindric. Wheels dominated the raceday discourse after Justin Haley‘s wheel broke to create another caution on lap 53; the Next Gen car wheel features just one lug nut rather than the traditional five, is larger than its predecessors, and is composed of aluminum instaed of steel.

The first stage ended under caution for a multi-car wreck on the backstretch on lap 64 that began after Keselowski delivered a bump to Harrison Burton while fighting for the lead, with the latter getting sideways and hitting the drafting duo of William Byron and Kyle Busch before flipping onto his roof. The upside-down Burton was then impacted by Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin, with Ross Chastain also getting collected. Martin Truex Jr. was the leader at the time of the yellow flag and therefore won the stage, and following were Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Larson, and Chase Elliott.

Unlike the wheel drama and stage-ending wreck, the second segment ran completely green. Blaney took the lead on the restart before green-flag pit stops took place that shuffled the position between Truex and Wallace. Keselowski assumed the lead upon the pit cycle’s completion, but was caught by Truex who went on to win the stage. Logano, wallace, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Cinric, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Larson, and Gilliland rounded out the top ten.

Keselowski regained the lead as the final stage commented. On lap 152, Reddick got loose in front of Jacques Villeneuve and overcorrected, causing him to spin up the tri-oval into Truex where he collected Busch and Logano. Wallace and Cindric led their respective lines when the race resumed, and this remained the case before Stenhouse entered the picture.

As the finish loomed with nine laps remaining, another crash occurred in the tri-oval when Larson clipped Harvick from behind after a stack-up with Buescher, resulting in Gilliland getting turned into Larson and setting off a chain reaction that resulted in damage for Jones, Gragson, and Elliott. A red flag was called for cleanup. Although Elliott would ultimately salvage a tenth-place finish, the crash with Larson meant all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers were involved in a caution, a far cry from their Daytona 500 qualifying successes.

Cindric assumed the lead for the lap 195 restart, though green-flag racing only lasted a circuit before a bump from Keselowski instead sent Stenhouse down into Wallace as they exited turn four. Stenhouse ricocheted up and collected Buescher, resulting in overtime.

A pair of Penske drivers in Cindric and Blaney occupied the front row as overtime began. A strong restart propelled Cindric to the lead where he joined up with Blaney on the inside line while Keselowski worked with Chase Briscoe on the outside. This order remained the same for much of the final lap before best friends Blaney and Wallace attempted to make their moves by drafting together to remain on Cindric’s rear.

Briscoe and Kyle Busch attempted to pass Keselowski on the outside as they neared the finish, prompting Keselowski to come up and squeeze them into the wall. The same occurred for Blaney as he was sandwiched between Cindric and the wall, which Wallace tried to capitalise upon. Cindric dropped low and his left rear hit Wallace’s nose, causing him to briefly go onto the double-yellow line, but it was enough to keep Wallace at bay as Cindric crossed the line first.

Cindric is the first rookie to win the Daytona 500 since Trevor Bayne in 2011, but the first to do so as a Cup Series full-time driver (Bayne had declared for Xfinity Series points the year he won). Roger Penske, who was celebrating his eighty-fifth birthday, scored his third Daytona 500.

“I’ll be honest, I knew I had the car to do it, but there’s so many things that have to play out correctly in putting yourself in position,” commented Cindric. “And I think we learned throughout the race with myself, my spotter, and Jeremy as well, is doing the right strategy, the right calls and setting up the right lanes to be able to put ourselves in position.

“Sometimes that’s all you can hope for, and sometimes you have to force people to help you. I definitely didn’t expect any help throughout the day. I did get some from the Fords, and I think Ford’s done an incredible job with this new car, and I think it’s obviously shown the first couple races.

Just proud to be able to do it, proud to be able to hold off those runs at the end of the race. And it means the world to me to sit here and be able to say I’m a Daytona 500 winner.”

As the 2020 Xfinity Series champion who began his career there in 2018 with a reputation for multiple wrecks, Cindric remarked, “You probably couldn’t have picked me up from the care centre (in 2018) and said, you’re going to win the Daytona 500 one day. I probably would have said, ‘Bullshit.’

“But we’ve come a long way since then. It’s a very big credit to a lot of the people around me that have believed in me. I’ve driven a lot of different race cars in my career, a lot of different race cars at this track alone, and I’ve seen the highs and lows of it. I have a lot of perspective from friends, competitors, co-drivers, teammates. This race means so much to so many people, and just very humbled to be able to get it done.”

Winning the Daytona 500. Not bad for a sports car and rallycross driver.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	5	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	201	Running
2	16	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	201	Running
3	9	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	201	Running
4	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	201	Running
5	38	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	201	Running
6	10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	201	Running
7	6	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	201	Running
8	34	15	David Ragan	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	201	Running
9	3	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	201	Running
10	11	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
11	26	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
12	33	16	Daniel Hemric*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	201	Running
13	14	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	201	Running
14	24	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
15	27	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Running
16	4	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	200	Running
17	32	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	200	Running
18	21	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	199	Running
19	17	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	199	Running
20	31	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	199	Running
21	20	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	198	Running
22	40	27	Jacques Villeneuve	Team Hezeberg	Ford	198	Running
23	25	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	198	Running
24	2	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	197	Running
25	36	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	197	Running
26	35	50	Kaz Grala*	The Money Team Racing	Chevrolet	196	Running
27	37	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	196	Running
28	18	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	194	Accident
29	13	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	191	Accident
30	22	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	191	DVP
31	39	62	Noah Gragson*	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	190	Accident
32	1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	190	Accident
33	29	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	190	Accident
34	12	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	152	Accident
35	15	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	151	Accident
36	28	44	Greg Biffle*	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	136	Running
37	30	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	63	Accident
38	23	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Accident
39	8	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	62	Accident
40	19	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	62	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points