Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was one of three Ford Racing drivers to finish in the top five on Sunday at Darlington Raceway, posting a fifth-place result. He spoke about what went right while also looking ahead to this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DID IT FEEL TO FINALLY GET A FINISH THAT WAS INDICATIVE OF HOW YOU RAN? “Yeah, it was definitely an important day from a points perspective, no doubt, for the team just having a small reward for the job that everyone has done so far to start the year with a lot of fast cars, but racing works in a lot of different ways and a lot of things are possible good or bad, so it’s nice to get the monkey off our back a little bit and be able to get a solid race finish under our belts. We’re looking forward to the weekend and trying to continue to build on that and continue building on the speed we’ve had.”
HOW DID YOU AVOID FEELING DESPERATE WITH THE WAY THE YEAR STARTED? “I think that’s the key. It is just one race so far, but I think it’s not a surprise to our group, and I think circling back a few weeks, I think you have to look at yourself first and whether if that’s me as a driver, us as a team and I think it would be hard to identify things, especially in the first four weeks of the year that we would regret or feel like we put ourselves in those positions. I think having the patience as a group, we have enough experience, but also enough experience together and enough processes together that you kind of just get lost in the work and that is the beauty of our schedule is that although there is the opportunity to get beat down four weeks in a row, there’s also the opportunity to get right back up the next week, so you kind of just lean into that and believe in that and believe in the work we’re doing. I think it really can be that simple if you trust yourself and those around you.”
HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE DARLINGTON RACE AND THE PACKAGE WE’VE TALKED SO MUCH ABOUT? “Obviously, the expectations for the package at Darlington was all across the board. At the end of the day, Darlington is still Darlington. No matter what car you throw on that racetrack, you’re gonna have a lot of the same challenges and a lot of the same limitations and a lot of the same things that make that track so incredibly difficult and taxing, whether if that’s on the racetrack or on pit road. So, I feel like I saw a lot of those same things in the race car and the setups to the race car were obviously different and had to be evolved. That first practice session was definitely a handful, I think for me and plenty of others, but you kind of give time to work on things and refine things. As far as just the package itself, it definitely was sliding around a ton more, whether if that created any dynamics that existed or didn’t exist. It made the car drive differently, but I don’t know if Darlington raced a whole lot different. I feel like I had to sell out for slide jobs more than before to complete passes, which is not the easiest thing to do, especially when you’re trying to talk yourself into having a good day, and bombing it off in and backing it in up to the outside wall trying not to ruin your day. It was just a different beast in smaller areas, but, like I said before, Darlington is probably always going to be Darlington no matter what you throw on it.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR MENTAL PREPARATION FOR TALLADEGA? “Talladega and superspeedways in general definitely require maybe different focus in different areas than other races that we do. The races themselves obviously look a lot different, whether if that’s just the pack racing in general. You mentioned there’s an emphasis on fuel more at those races than most races that we go to, so being able to understand that, but I think a lot of it comes down to communication and obviously I have a ton of experience with my group and Doug, my spotter, and Brian and things that I need throughout a run to stay aware of what’s happening, but also kind of that open-mindedness and awareness of things as they evolve, as they change, how your competitors are racing because you will race and see everyone in the field throughout the day. There are plenty of cars I didn’t see in Darlington and usually that’s the same way, unless you’re coming up and down through the field. It’s a different ballgame and it’s fun in certain spurts to change that mindset and what you need to do. As far as Talladega and how it relates to other superspeedways, it’s just wider so the options are a lot more when you do have big runs. Even the fuel save stuff, there are more options to gain and lose track position as well. It’s just kind of the biggest, widest, fastest place we go to and there’s the most options because of it.”
YOU AND BLANEY RAN REALLY WELL AT DARLINGTON, BUT JOEY WAS OFF ALL DAY. WHAT’S IT LIKE FOR YOU TO SEE THAT WHEN A TEAMMATE STRUGGLES, AND IS IT ATTRIBUTAL TO THE DOWNFORCE/HORSEPOWER AND SOMETHING WE COULD SEE MORE OFTEN WITH THESE NEW COMBINATIONS? “It’s a bit difficult to speak for them. Obviously, I’m in the same meetings and the same building and it was a pretty uncharacteristic day, which is why I’m getting a question about how my teammate ran. But, I think more than anything else, it speaks to how easy it is to be off in the Cup Series, and by off I don’t mean having a bad day, but the cars themselves, the competitive nature, but like everything is really sensitive, so it’s kind of one of those things that the smallest piece or part or not necessarily the car itself, but a decision or a mindset or just how things fell. When we’re talking about tenths of a pound of air-pressure making balance swings throughout a run, nothing really surprised me anymore. I mean, I’ve been in that situation enough times to not jump to any conclusions over one race or one performance. Obviously, Joey has won at that track before. Paul has won at that track before. We as a company ran well with two of our cars. I’m not ready to burn the house down on anything, and I don’t think anyone should be. I don’t really know how else to answer the question past everyone has bad days every once in a while.”
I UNDERSTAND YOU CAN’T SPEAK FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE, BUT THERE HAVE PROBABLY BEEN TIMES YOU HAVEN’T RUN AS WELL AS THE 12 AND 22. WHAT DOES THAT FEEL LIKE? “I think it’s a reset in some ways as far as what are you focusing on and what makes sense, what doesn’t. I think the processes we have as a race team from a consistency standpoint and a QC standpoint are best in the field, so I feel like from that standpoint that’s the first thing you go to. You check that box, but past that, I think to speculate or to compare to other situations, I think they’re always different, but how it makes you feel? You don’t feel great about it by no means, but, like I said before, I don’t think there’s any reason to hit the panic button in that scenario, whether I’ve been in it or the specific one you asked. It’s one race in a race that had a lot of unknowns going into it, so I think that’s really all the more serious I can get about it. I’m not really someone to get down on myself. You look at the facts and try to improve and that’s really it.”
WITH THE NEW POINT SYSTEM IN PLACE, HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE PROCESS WITH HOW THINGS STARTED THIS YEAR? “It’s an interesting question and I feel like I can answer it two ways. I mean, ignorance is bliss. I’ve never really been in a position like care a ton about points until the playoffs, so I don’t really look at points anyway, but you re-watch all these races from early last year and guys that were low in points and ended up being high in points. It’s a long season and things can go right or wrong. The cream usually does rise to the top, so if I do truly believe that our team has the speed to run well week to week as we’ve had, and as I feel like we should, then there’s no reason to worry. You kind of just trust those around you, so it does come down to a trust thing. If I was in a new group of people and didn’t know anybody and things were going this bad, then maybe it’s more difficult, but I can’t say I found it – it was more difficult to just laugh it off, I guess, than anything else – not to be unserious about it – frustrating days and frustrating to destroy race cars for the first four weeks, but that’s racing sometimes. When it rains, it pours.”
HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD ABOUT WANTING TO BE IN A CERTAIN PLACE IN POINTS BY ANYONE? “I can’t say I’ve put a ton of focus into it because that’s an end result. My job is to affect the result in the most positive way that I can, so I hope to win every race. There’s a guy in the field that’s trying to do that, but I don’t really know how else to do it. We track those things and we’ve got a graph. The thing is it’s a moving target, so as far as what’s going to create a playoff or chase berth or whatever else, also the fact of the matter is the way I look at it is if I’m seeded 16th, cool, I made it, but you’re probably not gonna win the championship with the way that maths out, but I do know that I do find important that huge gap from 16th to first when you do the seeding, so I feel like I need to be better than 16th to have a shot. But the first goal is to have a shot, period. It is important, but you take it one race at a time because it is a moving target. My job is to get the best finishes and stage points and points that we can.”
AS FAR AS THE HIGHER HORSEPOWER PACKAGE AT MARTINSVILLE. IS THIS ANOTHER GUESSING GAME OR DOES BOWMAN GRAY OR PHOENIX OR COTA OR DARLINGTON RELATE TO ANYTHING YOU CAN BRING THERE? “I think Bowman Gray definitely helps, probably more than anywhere else we’ve been. And I also see Martinsville being the track that it has its intended impact, i.e. the intended impact of adding more horsepower. I think Martinsville stands to change the most just because we’re basically doing two u-turns and trying to force them out of the corners. That’s what it comes down to, especially later in the runs and using up rear tires. That’s what varies throughout a run, so if there’s anywhere that it’s gonna affect, I think it’s gonna affect Martinsville the most. I’m looking forward to seeing what that is. I think as a race team it’s pretty easy to determine with the factors that are gonna change, it’s just the magnitude or the things that maybe take a bit of guesswork and from there you get a good read in practice and see what we’ve got for the race. But a lot of the conditions are all very similar. You have similar weather, the same tire. The only thing that’s really changed is the power, so I’m looking forward to all that and seeing what changes.”
WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK DID YOU GET FROM THE DRIVER’S ONLY BROADCAST THE OTHER NIGHT? “It’s always funny to do those because it’s this weird environment because I feel I’m always encouraged to just goof off, if I’m being honest. But, at the same time, it’s tough because I’m also doing a care center interview with Ben Rhodes and I feel like I’m talking to somebody whose dog just died. It’s the same at the end of the race. I’m interviewing the guy who led most of the race and lost, and I interview the guy that lost the race in the closing seconds, so I guess what I’m saying is that I always want to respect the competitors, but it is fun to go up there and add my two cents. As far as personality-wise and all that, I couldn’t tell you. Like I said, I’m the same guy seven days of the week, so if that’s just because you stick a microphone in my mouth and I’m not thanking my sponsors and telling you about how the race went from my seat. From a competitor’s standpoint, maybe that’s why others have a different experience, but, past that, that’s just me all the time.”
