Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Track: Talladega Speedway
Race: Unhinged 300
Date: June 20, 2020
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No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 7th
Stage 1: 6th
Stage 2: 3rd
Finish: 4th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 113/113
Laps Led: 8
Point Standings (behind first): 3rd (-43)
Notes:
Austin Cindric led eight laps and finished fourth Saturday afternoon in the Unhinged 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. With the result, the driver of the No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang moves from fourth to third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings, 43 markers behind leader Noah Gragson.
Cindric started the 113-lap, 300-mile race in the seventh position after the field was set by random draw. Cindric was scored in the 13th position when the competition caution flag flew on lap 10. The 21-year-old sliced his way through traffic to finish Stage 1 in sixth place. Crew chief Brian Wilson called the No. 22 MoneyLion Ford to pit road during the stage caution for two tires, fuel and slight adjustments and Cindric restarted the stage in the 10th position.
The second stage ran caution free and over the long run Cindric raced his way to the second position but crossed the line in third at the conclusion of Stage 2. A fast pit stop by the No. 22 crew helped the Mooresville, N.C. native to start the final stage from the race lead.
Eventually, Cindric was shuffled out of the top spot and fell to 10th before the fourth caution of the race on lap 76. Wilson called Cindric to pit road during the caution for fuel only and the MoneyLion Mustang restarted eighth.
Cindric once again captured the race lead with 13 laps remaining. Over the balance of the event, Cindric fell to the seventh position and a series of caution periods and two red flags paused the race. Racing resumed with less than five laps remaining and Cindric crossed the line fourth for his sixth top-five result of the season.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is back in action next Sunday, June 28 at Pocono Raceway, with live coverage starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Quote: “Yeah, it’s tough to decipher. Obviously, I think the inside row was more broken up than the top lane. You had three teammates when we came to two to go, so that was gonna be hard to beat from the start, but it was a solid day for us. We got stage points and we led some laps and we had a say in things at the end, I just wish I would have been able to have some more help behind me to be able to push the 8 to the lead and maybe try to race with him for the win. It didn’t work out that way, but not a scratch on the car, so happy with that and happy to be able to have a good race with MoneyLion on the car. Obviously, Joey will try to do a few spots better than we did today and it’ll be fun to watch that tomorrow.”
