Team Penske NASCAR Cup Series Race Recap
Track: Auto Club Speedway
Race: WISE Power 400
Date: February 27, 2022
No. 2 Menards/Quaker Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 1st
Race Finish: 12th
Stage 1 Finish: 9th
Stage 2 Finish: 7th
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 1st (+8 pts)
Race Rundown: After winning his first NASCAR Cup Series pole position Saturday, Austin Cindric started first and finished 12th Sunday after an eventful day at Auto Club Speedway. One week after his historic victory in the Daytona 500, Cindric and the Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang team collected points in both of the first two stages of Sunday’s race. Cindric recovered from slight damage to the No. 2 Ford as a result of a lap 159 incident and a challenging final pit stop as he brought home a top-15 finish. Cindric remains the Cup Series point leader with two rounds complete as he carries an eight-point advantage over teammate Joey Logano.
Cindric’s Thoughts: “It was a really solid day in our Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang getting points in both stages and being a contender in the top-10 the entire race. I felt like I was a bit married to the top lane. I will have to understand why that is and look over how I can be better on the bottom and do a better job on the restarts. It wasn’t our day as far as being involved the wrong things and even recovered back to the top-10 and got a wheel stuck on. We have some things to clean up, but it was overall a solid performance, and it was good to be in the top-10 all day.”
No. 12 WURTH Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 6th
Race Finish: 18th
Stage 1 Finish: 8th
Stage 2 Finish: 4th
Laps Led: 1
Point Standings: 4th (-15 pts)
Race Rundown: Driving the No. 12 WURTH Ford Mustang, Ryan Blaney started sixth and finished 18th in Sunday afternoon’s 400-mile race at Auto Club Speedway. Blaney showed tremendous pace all afternoon in the No. 12 Ford, but issues on pit lane plagued the team for the majority of the race as the team battled to get the right rear tire off the car during pit stops. Despite the challenges, Blaney was able to run inside the top-10 for most of Sunday’s race. A late pit stop resulted in the No. 12 WURTH Ford falling back in the field just prior to the finish, and Blaney ran out of time to make up ground as he finished 18th.
Blaney’s Thoughts: “We had really good speed today in our No. 12 WURTH Ford. It felt like the balance was pretty good and we were able to make our way through the field. Unfortunately, we’re still learning on the setup stuff and how that impacts the ability to get the wheel off quickly during a pit stop. We’ll learn from it and go to Vegas next week and hopefully carry over the speed we had today.”
No. 22 Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang – Joey Logano
Start: 7th
Race Finish: 5th
Stage 1 Finish: 7th
Stage 2 Finish: 3rd
Laps Led: 14
Point Standings: 2nd (-8 pts)
Race Rundown: Following an incident in qualifying, Joey Logano surrendered his scheduled seventh place starting spot in Sunday’s 400-mile race at Auto Club Speedway as he started at the rear of the field. Logano wasted little time moving forward in the No. 22 Auto Club Ford Mustang as he raced his way up to the 14th position by lap five. The No. 22 Ford team and Logano raced inside the top 10 and led for 14 laps before ultimately finishing in the fifth position.
Logano’s Thoughts: “The guys did a great job of getting the car fixed after I wrecked in qualifying and we were fast right off the get-go. We were okay. The short runs weren’t really our cup of tea with our Auto Club Mustang here. We had a shot there at the end though going down the backstretch two-wide and I thought it was my chance. Overall, coming here with big challenges and wrecking the car in qualifying and the guys fixing it and giving us a shot at the win, you have to be proud of that effort. We learned a lot and there is a lot more to get better at. Nobody is really good, that is what I figured out today. Nobody is good. We have work to do.”
