Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series Media Availability
The Great American Getaway 400 | Pocono Raceway
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, met with the media Saturday afternoon ahead of on-track action in the NASCAR Cup Series. Cindric talked about the last few weeks of the season, his season to date, and preparations for the upcoming NASCAR Playoffs.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang Dark Horse
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LONG-TERM VIABILITY IS OF CHICAGO AND STREET RACING IN GENERAL AND NASCAR?
“I’ve always loved street course racing, but I think as an industry, we definitely proved that it’s something we can do for the future, really. I don’t think there’s a driver in the field that doesn’t enjoy the uniqueness of that event, being in the city, having the city embrace us for the weekend and it kind of being a bit of a different blip in the schedule as far as your normal day-to-day transitions. Even the crew guys, in a lot of ways, get to explore a little bit more than maybe you would on a normal weekend. As far as the racetrack it is big enough for us to go racing each time. So I just hope that we can go there one year and not have the crazy weather and time limitations and all that. I could easily see it being a classic race on the schedule.”
THIS IS YOUR 100TH CUP START HERE THIS WEEKEND. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU GOING INTO THAT?
“It means time flies, I guess. In some ways, I feel like I’m pretty new to all this. It’s crazy to kind of think of 100 starts. But yeah, it’s been fun. Gotta get keep getting better though. The first hundred’s been good, but we need to make the next hundred great.”
WITH THE CUP SERIES SCHEDULE UNIQUENESS, WE HAVE A STREET RACE, POCONO, THE BRICKYARD 400 NEXT WEEK. WHAT IS YOUR MENTALITY, WEEK TO WEEK, ESPECIALLY WITH PLAYOFFS COMING UP, HOW DO YOU ADJUST ON A WEEK TO WEEK BASIS?
“It’s interesting as far as how it relates to the playoffs. There aren’t too many tracks that we’ve been going to that benefit us from preparing for the playoffs. You don’t really have a Pocono or an Indy or a Chicago street course. I mean maybe the Roval is somewhat close to it, but otherwise I wouldn’t say it was an overly productive couple weeks for preparing for the playoffs other than just getting reps as a team. You will get to you know Richmond and Michigan and tracks like that and kind of wind down the regular season at tracks that I feel like all will be very relevant. I think that’s what makes watching this sport fun, is that you have something completely different each Sunday that you’re going to tune into and watch. If we made new fans last week in Chicago by going there, they’re going to tune in this weekend at Pocono and look at the TV and figure out why this looks so different than what they watched last weekend. I feel like you’ll have that week-to-week with what we get to do. I feel like that’s what makes it fun with a race fan with that many races on the schedule.”
YOU’RE THE LAST FORD DRIVER TO MAKE IT TO VICTORY LANE HERE IN XFINITY IN 2021 IN THE CUP SERIES. NO FORD HAS WON SINCE 2020 AND THEN DATING BACK TO 2017 BEFORE THAT. WHAT DOES YOUR TEAM THINK ABOUT GETTING THE BLUE OVALS BACK TO VICTORY LANE HERE?
“Well, it’s our goal every weekend but it’s a place that I’ve always really liked since my first ARCA race here. I see no reason for us not to be in contention this weekend. I feel like there’s a few drivers that really stand out as you go to this track, and I think for me getting a handle on a few specific areas on the racetrack since we’ve gone to the NextGen car have been pretty important and been a lot of our focus for this weekend. I think today will tell the story for tomorrow.”
WHAT HAS MADE THIS TRACK SUCH A CHALLENGE FOR FORD AND SPECIFICALLY TEAM PENSKE?
“I can’t speak for any year before 2022 but for us with the NextGen car, the bumps are a pretty big challenge. You have a lot less tools in the toolbox as far as how to make a race car compliant because you have linear springs on all four corners, and you have height limitations. So these cars are also very sensitive to not being sealed off to the ground with the diffuser and how sensitive the aero is. Those are all things that bumps are not very good for. I’d say for us that’s been one of the biggest challenges, the tunnel turn and connecting your run from turn one to turn three and that’s where I’m hoping to see us make some progress today from a motor side. I’m not sure how some of that connects, and from an aero side, not sure how some of that all connects, but from a race team side, I see that’s where we can make progress this weekend.”
BETWEEN USING THE RAIN TIRES AT RICHMOND, NEW HAMPSHIRE AND CHICAGO, DO YOU FORESEE THAT BECOMING AN EVEN BIGGER PART OF THE TRAINING REGIMEN IF IT ISN’T ALREADY?
“As far as simulating rain conditions, it’s very hard to do. I mean, it’s the same reason why iRacing has probably just recently come out with something like that. The challenge of racing in the rain isn’t necessarily like the loss of surface grip, it’s all the variables. It’s the drying conditions, it’s how wet is the racetrack. What are you going to do when the track dries out? What are you going to do when the track gets wetter? How those lines change around, standing water on a track like Chicago where there’s a lot of bumps and you can collect water. All those things have to be modeled correctly for them to be really relevant to the driver, let alone even in a controlled environment with a dry racetrack. Sometimes it’s hard to get the simulator tools exactly how it would need to feel in the car. So maybe from a driver training perspective, perhaps, but I feel like I’d be able to learn just as much going to the go-kart track and running on a rainy day. So and I don’t mean that to devalue go-kart racing, but it’s probably just as much a valuable tool as far as from a real-world experience just dealing with those challenges.”
WHEN YOU SEE THE RACES ENDING WITH A TIME, A SPECIFIC TIME FOR IT TO END. WHAT’S THAT LIKE FOR THE DRIVER IN THE COCKPIT AND HOW DO YOU CHANGE YOUR MENTALITY? DO YOU LIKE IT? IT’S EXCITING TO WATCH, BUT WHAT’S IT LIKE TO NAVIGATE?
“It’s interesting that it came up in the Truck Series race last night as well. It hasn’t really come up too many times before last weekend. I think NASCAR’s ability to kind of adjust from what happened last year with the end of the race. There were teams, including myself, in the 2023 Chicago race that kind of took a gamble knowing that sunlight was going to be an issue, and we benefited from it. Other teams were upset because it wasn’t clear. I think NASCAR made it very, very clear what the guidelines were for the end of the race. Everyone was able to really understand what the strategy would look like. So from there, it was much more about just planning on what tires you’re gonna have on for the end of the race because I think some guys kept rain’s on had an advantage and some guys that put dry’s on there or the back of the field like myself had an advantage. So I think NASCAR couldn’t be any more clear about how they did that. I would think that’s probably gonna the guidelines moving forward. As soon as they know I think they’ll make it pretty clear to the race teams.
DO YOU LIKE IT?
“It doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t really get to have an opinion, but your restrictions are your restrictions as far as from light and any other factors. It doesn’t really change my day at all. I know times versus laps, it’s all kind of one and the same, depending on how you do the math. Caution flags, I feel like put the biggest variable on a timed race because if that race wouldn’t have had all those cautions at the end, there would have been a lot more green flag laps and dry tires probably would have had more of an advantage at the end of the race. That’s just how it goes.”
WITH ALL THREE OF YOU SEALING YOUR PLAYOFF SPOT, HOW CONFIDENT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TEAM PENSKE DEFENDING THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND DO YOU FEEL THIS IS YOUR TIME TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“The first step to winning a championship is making the playoffs, and all three of us are in the playoffs. It’s not that I’m not a goal setter, but I don’t like setting a result-based goal. for me, the only goal for the season was to make the playoffs because it is your only avenue, your only way to win a championship. As a team, we’ve won the championship with Joey and Ryan the last two years, and it’s all about using that system to be able to get to the next round each time. Whether if that’s winning races late in the playoffs or having enough points, our guys have been able to really execute in that round of eight and propel themselves into a position to be in the championship four. That’s all just about having your best day. I think for us, it’s about maximizing each opportunity with each playoff track and being able to understand where our strengths and weaknesses are. Apart from that, the biggest way to win the championship is to be in it.”
