Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Thursday, May 23, 2019
EVENT: NASCAR XFINITY Series Media Availabilities
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang – SUNDAY GETS A LOT OF ATTENTION WITH THE INDY 500 AND COCA-COLA 600, BUT THIS IS A BIG WEEKEND FOR YOUR SERIES AS WELL. “We get to kick off the greatest weekend in motorsports. Sunday does have its day for the greatest day in motorsports, but we get to get all of the race fans and everyone who has the weekend off to get excited for racing. A lot of people do barbeques and cookouts and watch a lot of racing this weekend, so I’m excited to be a part of that and hopefully kick it off on the right foot.”
YOU NO DOUBT HAVE SOME GOOD MEMORIES OF INDIANAPOLIS. WHAT WILL THIS WEEKEND LOOK LIKE FOR YOU? “I’m going there on Sunday. I’ll get to do the XFINITY race on Saturday and then figure out what it takes to win on that day and then when I get out of the car all hot and sweaty I’ll drive over to the airport and get on a plane to go to Indy and enjoy the race as a fan. It has been different the last year or so being a driver with Team Penske at the Indy 500, watching the race and being more a part of the team than I probably have been in the past, so that’s been a cool dynamic, but obviously it’s more of a family event for us. My brother is in town and my mom and my dad will obviously be there. It’s kind of one of those things that has been a family occasion for us, so getting to be able to go and do that will be great. If my career path works out the way I want it, maybe I won’t get to go to the Indy 500 as much, but so far it’s been a lot of fun to be able to do that.”
WHEN YOU GO THERE DO YOU HAVE THE BEST CREDENTIALS? “No doubt. The best credentials and the best people to surround myself with. It’s cool to be able to BS with a guy like Helio Castroneves before the race and before he goes out to try and win his fourth Indy 500. Stuff like that is pretty invaluable. If you ever had a book on my life, there would be a lot of highlights from stuff like that.”
WHERE DO YOU WATCH THE RACE? “I’m not gonna divulge too much of my secret location on where I watch the race from the infield because it is the most perfect spot to watch the race, but I can see all the front straightaway, start-finish line, the pylon, the Pagoda. There’s a TV screen right in front of me and you can see all the way through turn one and two, so it’s the perfect spot.”
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO FIND THAT SPOT? “I found it about four years ago. I’ve been going since I was two years old, so finding that spot was pretty key and I do a lot to make sure that spot is blocked and guarded off because I do get there quite early in the morning.”
DO YOU MOVE TRASH CANS? “Pretty much. I’ll move trash cans and use zip ties so people are very discouraged of going there and it usually works out.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC CONTINUED — HOW COMFORTABLE DO YOU FEEL IN THE INDY GARAGE? “Pretty comfortable. It’s somewhere I’ve grown up around. I remember holding my mom and dad’s hands walking down Gasoline Alley before the race, which is pretty cool, but some of my favorite stuff is just being able to sit on the grid. The four of us will just sit on the pit wall and watch the world go by and watch everyone who passes by and says hey. It’s kind of the anticipation. You see the crews and drivers trying to not show how nervous they are to go run a race like that. It’s kind of been a family experience for us.”
WHAT ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF RUNNING THIS RACE AND THEN GOING THERE? “Obviously it would be awesome to kick off this weekend for Team Penske with a win. That’s the goal every weekend, but it would be cool to show up at Indy after just winning your first XFINITY race, but we’ve got a lot going for us this weekend. We’ve got to focus on how to get our cars to drive well in the heat of the day here and probably cooler practice conditions, and it will be a whole different day on Sunday and just get to relax and enjoy myself.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUN THE INDY 500/COCA-COLA 600 DOUBLE SOME DAY? “It would be awesome, no doubt. I don’t think any driver would shy away from that, at least they shouldn’t. Obviously, to get the experience to be able to do that right one day would be really cool and it would be great if there was a Ford I could drive in both of those, but it would definitely be a bucket list thing for me to do if I ever had the opportunity.”
HAVE YOU MADE THAT CLEAR TO YOUR DAD? “I’ve got a little ways to go before I bring up that.”
HOW HAS THIS FIRST FULL YEAR WITH TEAM PENSKE GONE SO FAR? “Not bad. I think we’ve probably been one of the more consistent cars on the grid and it’s paid dividends for us as far as points go and as far as finishes go and as far as experience for me goes. Being able to come back to a few tracks for a second time and really apply what I learn has helped, and I think this is one of those tracks that I’ve circled on the schedule that probably didn’t go as well as I wanted it to last year running with the 12 car. I’ve put a lot of that burden on me, just not being able to prepare ourselves well in practice on a day like today where it’s not gonna be near as hot as the race, not gonna have near as much sun on the track, so those are all things that I can really apply this weekend to kind of show growth, if you will. I’m looking forward to Saturday. I think it’s gonna be a challenge for a lot of us being able to keep up with track conditions, being able to have the car set up well for the conditions to start the race and then to keep up with the track compound and how it wears away.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC CONTINUED — WHAT HAVE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES BEEN? “I’d say our strengths have been the short tracks and that being said that means some of the bigger tracks haven’t been as strong for us or at least some of the tracks that are more high grip, high speed, so this is a track that we’re hoping to kind of make some gains on heading into the summer. We’ve got a lot of different variables coming up with Pocono and Michigan and Chicagoland, and then you’ve got Kentucky, so we’ve got some good trial runs for us to understand that. For me, it’s been solid but frustrating because we’ve been solid. That’s a good reason to be frustrated, but we can run fourth to sixth every weekend no matter what we do, however much we execute. That’s great. I think that shows a lot of growth from me because that’s something I really struggled with at this point last year, but as a team we want to win. This is a great opportunity for me to go out and compete for a championship. I’ve had races like Richmond that are really encouraging and where I maybe overachieved and finished second or take the lead, but it’s important to figure out how to get race-winning speed each weekend.”
WHAT TYPE OF GOALS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE SUMMER STRETCH? “Obviously to build off the tracks we’re going back to for a second time and apply what I’ve learned from those experiences and to find some speed and continue that consistency. It’s very important and very important to get Playoff points and the only way you can do that is to win stages and to win races, so I’d like to make my life as easy as possible coming into the Playoffs because I’ve done it without any Playoff points and it isn’t any fun. I’ve done it twice. It’s not fun, so trying to get that preparation ahead of time is pretty crucial for me.”
