Austin Cindric’s 2022 Daytona 500 win wasn’t the usual sort of victory you’d expect from a rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series. It wasn’t a fluke, it wasn’t a right-place-right-time when calamity strikes win and it wasn’t some fuel mileage win.
Rather, it was a win on pure strength. Cindric was strong in his qualifying race and started the 500 in fifth. From there, he was rarely far from the lead, leading 21 laps on the way to scoring the win.
It’d be surprising if not for the fact that he showed similar strength during his limited Cup campaign last season. The stats will say that he only scored one top-10 and led only eight laps. But what the stats won’t show is how he led in his Cup debut at the 2021 Daytona 500 and was in the lead pack heading into the final two corners before crashing. They won’t show how he started third in Austin and took a commanding lead – on slicks, in the rain – before spinning. They won’t even show how he took the lead at Road America and was running away with it before losing a rear gear.
Cindric isn’t a typical rookie. He’s a phenom who is maturing very fast, having come a long way from a dismal 2018 XFINITY campaign where he drove for multiple teams and crashed far too many times. He’s now driving the flagship No. 2 for Team Penske heading into his first full NASCAR Cup Series season, And, it looks like he may have laid claim to the Rookie of the Year title before fellow rookies Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton have even had a chance to establish themselves.
Is Cindric the second coming of Jeff Gordon? It’s too soon to tell. But at the same time, there are many former rookies that took the Cup Series by storm, so this is nothing new. If anything it goes to show that Cindric is in great company, and if his limited schedule last season is any indicator he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Team Penske Fords are undoubtedly the strongest in the garage and have a tendency to run well everywhere, especially road courses and superspeedways. Again, however, he’s performed well on all kinds of tracks so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him competing for wins and strong runs elsewhere.
One thing is sure. Cindric is going to be a threat in his rookie year and for a long time to come. Expect him to prove himself, again and again, this season.
