Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Zoom Media Availability | Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Austin Cindric will be pulling double duty this weekend as he drives Team Penske Ford Mustangs in the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Circuit of the Americas. Cindric, who won his third race of the NXS season last week at Dover International Speedway, was this week’s guest on the Ford Zoom media call.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 33 Pirtek Ford Mustang (NCS) and No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang (NXS) — WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS THIS WEEKEND? “I think on the personal side of things I’ve got to eat my Wheaties. My braking foot is gonna be worn out after this weekend, I can promise you that. There’s a lot of long brake zones at that place and a lot of sustained braking because these things don’t stop very well. I think that’s probably on the personal side, but there are a lot of challenges to understand the cars and understand the track. It’s great to have practice for the first time since the Daytona 500 weekend that we’ve had practice, so kind of getting to talk about a practice plan seems a little normal. It’s going good so far, but a lot left in the weekend for sure.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE TURNS AT COTA? WHAT WILL BE THE MOST CHALLENGING? “I think the restarts are gonna be wild. You have a very wide inviting front straightaway. You even see it in the F1 races there. I mean, guys will drive it off in there and collect three or four cars, so I think restarts are definitely going to pretty crazy in all three series — a lot of opportunities to pass at this racetrack, a lot of tire fall off, which obviously provides a bit of a dynamic to the race, whether if it’s on strategy or on the racetrack, so, otherwise, you kind of have every type of corner at this racetrack. There’s a lot to look forward to, I think for the NASCAR fans and a lot of unknowns for us as drivers.”
HOW DO YOU DIGEST WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NXS RACE SO YOU CAN TURN IT AROUND FOR THE RACE ON SUNDAY? HOW WILL YOU DO THAT? “I think the first thing I’ve got to understand is what’s relatable between the two cars, whether if that’s the setups that we have in the cars or the on track time in what’s relevant and what’s not, so, obviously, anything from the race flow to how the tires wear is probably the biggest thing for us.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW THE XFINITY SERIES IS PLAYING OUT? “I don’t think there are any clear favorites. In year’s past by this time you’ve kind of had four or five guys that have separated themselves and I think any given week you can’t really predict the top five, so, to me, that means there’s a lot of parity in this series and a lot of great drivers fighting for a lot, so that’s made racing on Saturdays a lot of fun and definitely maybe a different challenge than in year’s past, kind of knowing who is gonna be strong and basically studying their strengths and weaknesses. You kind of have to just go out and do your own thing, which I like, so it makes every weekend different, whether that’s from the driver’s seat or the couch, so it’s been a fun year so far.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WIN A RACE AFTER MAKING SUCH A GREAT SAVE LIKE YOU DID? “I’m sure a lot of those guys didn’t have any idea that it happened, but at least from my end I don’t know if you feel like you’ve got a new lease on life, but you feel like if you overcome that, you can overcome everything else. It definitely could have ended our day very quickly, so glad we were able to recognize that situation and obviously prevent a lot from happening there, but, either way, definitely great to be able to recover from that and obviously go on and win the race.”
IS COTA AN AGGRESSIVE TRACK OR WHERE DOES PATIENCE PLAY A ROLE THIS WEEKEND? “That’s a great question. The first thing I think of is tire wear. That’s probably where patience is gonna pay off, but how much does track position matter or not? I feel like you can lose a lot of time by trying to pass someone, especially in the hairpins, so I think that really opens up the opportunity for a two-car breakaway to be very challenging, whether it be the first or second place guy or the two guys you’re racing, so I feel like the smarter you are about that, the more you can prevent getting passed while trying to make a pass. That’s kind of the worst thing possible is trying to do one and lose a spot because of it. Past that, there’s a lot of run off. It’s funny, we’ve got a 50-minute practice session and you think about cautions and red flags, if you’re hitting the wall at COTA, you’re doing something or something is broke or you’ve hit another car. It’s a lot easier to hit another car before you hit a wall at COTA, so I definitely expect a very low attrition rate unless there are just guys piling into each other. A lot of cars will be staying on the lead lap, a long lap on the racetrack, so track position will be important.”
WHY CAN YOU LOSE A LOT OF TIME IN THE HAIRPIN TURNS? “Stock cars aren’t very good at making sharp turns and not good at braking very well, so when you try and make two of them going into the same corner you have to go a lot slower, so it gives an opportunity to the guy behind you to either get a really great run on the straightaway, have a drafting opportunity down the back straightaway or just completely clear them at the same time. I think that’s what you saw at Indy last year in the XFINITY race. You saw AJ and I were able to breakaway from Briscoe when we started racing really hard and then all of a sudden we’re three-wide going down the front straightaway with two to go, all because we were racing each other really hard. So, I think there’s something to be said for being smart about that. Obviously, if you’re racing for a win, it’s the win, but there’s probably more opportunities at COTA to lose time doing that than anywhere else.”
HOW MUCH MIGHT THE COMPOSITE BODY CHANGE THINGS IN CUP NEXT YEAR? “I don’t know if it’s a game-changer, but it saves you from disaster, I think. There’s plenty of times, obviously, you’ve got guys get into the wall and they can keep on going, whereas in a Cup race you’d fold up a fender and you’d have to pit immediately. But there are also other times I’ve scraped the wall in an XFINITY car and had a right-rear tire go down immediately, so there’s no guarantee that you’re not gonna cause damage by hitting things, but it also makes crash repair probably a little bit easier for the teams because you’re not manipulating metal. It’s more removing the fiberglass, so it definitely changes some things, but I’m not sure. As a driver, to win the race you still have to be as clean as possible, but probably saving you from disaster is the best way to put it.”
THERE ARE A LOT OF DRIVERS FROM DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES COMPETING THIS WEEKEND. HAVE YOU CONTACTED ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE FOR ADVICE? “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t using every resource I have. Our Indy Car guys have raced at COTA before. I’ve talked to some of them. Obviously, we have the Ford Performance simulator, which is always a great tool, especially for new events like this. Brad got to be part of the Goodyear tire test as well as Chase Elliott and Martin Truex, so leaning on those guys, whether it’s crew chiefs, engineers, the run logs, whatever else to try to get ready for the race, so every resource I have I promise I’m using it, so past that there’s not a whole bunch to study off of, so definitely going in a little bit blind, but we do have practice so plenty of resources and definitely important to use them all.”
WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT HOW YOUR TEAM HAS SET YOU UP WITH THEIR ROAD COURSE PACKAGE? “It’s always been a strength for the 22 team. It’s been a strength for me, so I don’t see a reason why we can’t be competitive. It’s just figuring out how to use that practice session to figure out the most competitive package.”
YOU TALKED ABOUT LISTENING TO JAZZ AFTER THE INCIDENT WITH GIBBS ON SATURDAY. WHAT WAS THAT IN REFERENCE TO? “It was more of a Talladega Nights reference because when they go to Jean Girard and everything is happening behind him they just pan to his in-car camera and there is jazz music playing. I was not in a healthy frame of mind after we about got cleaned out, so the jazz music was definitely the influence for calming myself down. I will say that I actually do listen to jazz music. I played jazz music in high school band class, so I do like jazz music. I don’t listen to it very often, but it just so happened that I listened to it on race morning at Dover, so that’s all I’ve got.”
WHAT INSTRUMENT DID YOU PLAY? “I played the tuba.”
DO YOU THINK WITH YOUR ROAD COURSE EXPERIENCE THIS COULD BE A GOOD CHANCE FOR YOUR FIRST CUP WIN? “I think there’s a great opportunity. Anytime there’s a new challenge for everyone with this weekend being a new racetrack and limited track time, I’ll definitely look to do my prep work and set myself upon it that way. Past that, I have very little expectation. I think I’ve learned a lot in the Cup races that I’ve done. I’ve definitely understood the talent level and what that means for how I need to approach the race weekends racing on Sundays, so I’m definitely interested to see how it transfers over as far as the road courses always seem to be a little bit of an anomaly. I think they’re becoming less and less so the more of them we have on the schedule, whether if that’s on Saturdays or Sundays, so I’m excited for it. Like I said, it’s a new challenge and we’ll just try to take it head-on.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY TAKEAWAYS FROM YOUR LAST EXPERIENCE RACING AT COTA? “The last time I raced there was 2016 racing GT3 cars, so that would have been my last track experience there. I do feel like that track has definitely changed a lot from everyone I’ve talked to. The track surface itself has sunk. The track surface is worn. There’s a lot of patches in new areas, a lot of changes, so it’s definitely not the same racetrack I’ve raced on before past the layout, but that’s my past experience. From what I understand there are a lot of guys, I know from firsthand there are a lot of guys that have gone out there and done track days and tried to do the best they can to prepare for the weekend.”
WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU’RE LOOKING FOR WHEN YOU GET ON THE TRACK FOR PRACTICE? “It’s a 50-minute practice session on a really long track, so the laps are going to be at a premium. The faster I can get up to speed, the sooner we can make adjustments and the sooner we can make adjustments, the quicker we’re gonna be able to differentiate ourselves from the competition.”
WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO IN RACING? “When I was younger I spent a lot of time at Indy Car races, so hanging around Helio Castroneves, Gil de Ferran, Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Briscoe. Those guys were really influential to me growing up and it wasn’t really until Penske merged their Indy Car and NASCAR operations all under one roof that I really got exposed to NASCAR, and when I started racing Bandoleros, the only guy that I knew raced Cup was Sam Hornish Jr., so when I raced Bandoleros and Legend’s cars I was number 77. So, I’ve had a lot of cool guys to really look up to and interact with on a personal level and I’ve really enjoyed those experiences and to obviously kind of grow into an adult and know those guys — a lot of them are still teammates or, if anything, friends, so it’s cool to grow up around guys of that caliber.”
HOW WERE THEY INFLUENTIAL? “I mean it’s just the guys you look up to. You see these guys doing amazing things on the racetrack and then they come back into the Penske bus and they’re taking the hat off your head and talking with you and hanging around. You guys know how it is and it’s definitely affected how I interact with race fans because the smallest thing makes the biggest difference for someone that’s there and absolutely loves what’s going on.”
DO YOU EXPECT PEOPLE TO PIT BEFORE THE END OF THE STAGE OR WILL TIRE WEAR BE ENOUGH THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO HAVE EVEN TWO LAPS ON THEM BEFORE THE START OF THE NEXT STAGE? “That’s the magic question. I’m not sure, but that’s definitely on everyone’s mind. The road course races you have that option as far as pitting before the stages. I would say COTA has a shorter pit road than most tracks, so I think if you’re able to stretch it out far enough, you still have the option to still get stage points if you’re one of the front runners, so it’s definitely something to look at strategy-wise.”
HOW HAS STAYING IN XFINITY AN EXTRA YEAR HELPED YOU? “I think it’s yet to be seen. There’s no right or wrong way for driver development, whereas other sports there’s a set pathway that everybody follows. This is how you optimize it. This is how your future stands if you’re able to do your job. In racing, as everybody knows, it’s not that cut-and-dried. There’s a lot of different pathways and some guys don’t get the opportunity to pick and choose when their opportunities are and I’m kind of in the same boat. I didn’t necessarily choose the path. I think the path I’m on is really great and I look to make the most of it, and I think next year will be a good gauge to see how I’ve been able to take advantage of the opportunity to run another year and obviously have some exposure for a couple races during the season.”
ARE YOU PLEASED WITH HOW YOUR CUP PATH HAS DEVELOPED? “As a team we’ve grown a ton. It’s a group of guys. My crew chief is the engineer on the 12 car. My car chief is the underneath mechanic on the 12 car. We’ve got shop guys that come to the racetrack. My race engineer on the XFINITY side is my race engineer on the Cup side, so he’s double-duty this weekend. He’s just as busy as I am on these weekends. My pit crew guys, they don’t get to do too many events out of the year, so they’re pretty low on the rep counts, so there’s a lot of guys that aren’t used to working together and Kansas was probably our best race just as far as establishing ourselves inside the top 15, racing against good cars and giving ourselves a shot. Obviously, we got smoked in the race and didn’t get to finish it off, but I’m happy with the progress and I’ve learned a lot, especially starting last, and continue to try and carry that trend onto this weekend.”
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM WATCHING MONACO, INDY AND CHARLOTTE AS A KID, AND WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR WHEN YOU WILL BE PART OF THAT DAY AS A COMPETITOR IN CUP? “I would say my memories as a kid, with the exception of last year because we were racing at Dover, I’ve been to every Indy 500 since I was two years old, so it’s definitely a family tradition for us to do that and show up at the racetrack at 6 a.m. Before anything starts off everyone is kind of standing around drinking their coffee trying not to be nervous watching the Monaco Grand Prix in the engineering room and getting to see some of the Indy Car guys’ reaction to what’s going on is pretty hysterical, especially given our group of drivers, and then obviously watching the Indy 500, the flair that surrounds that, and then usually at the end of the race if we’ve won the race or not it’s usually somebody does a trip to McDonald’s and you watch the Coke 600 from the infield, so that will hopefully be the same experience this year — probably the last time in a little while that I’ll get to do that — so definitely will plan on making the most out of getting to go there again this year.”
ANY CONSIDERATION TO MAYBE DOING A INDY-CHARLOTTE DOUBLE IN THE FUTURE? “I’d certainly love to. I think it definitely depends on my talent level as a driver in a couple years. My focus is obviously on NASCAR, but I fully plan on going to Indy this year with the mindset that it’ll be the last time I stand on that grid on race day until I’m either in the race or out of a job, so that’s my perspective.”
