NASCAR Q&A: Austin Cindric talks season-opening win, X Games appearance, and favorite snack

Sep. 29—Austin Cindric is 24 years old and only 37 races into his NASCAR Cup Series career. Even so, he already has a major victory.

He finished first in the season-opening Daytona 500, when he was 23, and that made him the event's second-youngest winner.

Although he's still looking for his second victory, he's remained consistent all season. He has five finishes in the top five and eight in the top 10 and failed to finish only four races. So, even though he's led only 78 laps this year, he's alive and well in the Cup playoffs.

Heading into Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talaldega Superspeedway, Cindric is ninth in the playoff standings. This is a Round of 12 race, and after next week's run in Charlotte, the field will be trimmed to eight.

He's got a deep background in racing, having won the Xfinity Series championship in 2020 and finishing second last year. He was third in the Truck Series in 2017.

Oh, and his father, Tim Cindric is president of Team Penske, which is the racing team that employs Austin Cindric, although his results show he's driving the No. 2 on merit and not because of his last name.

Austin has been racing just about all of his life, and he says it definitely was him who wanted to get into racing — his father didn't push.

Maybe his pre-NASCAR highlight was competing in the 2014 X Games when he was 15. He picked up a bronze medal in the Rallycross competition.

Cindric took time recently to answer a slate of questions about his Daytona win, the fun of the X Games and, of course, his favorite snack.

Question: You had a great start to the season with the Daytona 500 win. Can you describe the excitement of that day and the days that followed?

Answer: The Daytona 500, that saved my life, I can tell you that. Pretty incredible to go there and feel that crowd and be able to live your dreams. From that standpoint, it's obviously the best way to start the year. Pretty gratifying in a lot of ways. I'd say it's certainly one of those things that's the gift that keeps on giving (by clinching a playoff spot).

In our sport, it's the first race of the year, and in a rookie season, I've got a lot to learn. It was back to business pretty quick. Obviously, we've been able to make a lot of progress throughout the season and put ourselves in position in the playoffs.

Q: You are either really gracious or you are not tired of talking about the Daytona race yet. Do you ever get tired of talking about it?

A: Probably not. It still puts a smile on my face when it gets brought up, if that tells you anything.

Q: Since then, you haven't gotten a win yet, but still, eight top 10 finishes and three other times 11th. From the outside, it looks like a good year, but what do you think?

A: I agree. It's funny you bring up those 11th-place finishes because internally as a race team, we kind of joke about that because there have been a lot of 11th-place finishes where on the stat sheet, I needed to be one spot better.

It's been one of those things. You're racing against the best of the best, and to be able to race against those guys, it's not only what it takes to race with them but better. I think that's my goal. I want to be the best. You've got to figure out how to beat the best to be the best.

Q: What do you owe your success, too, because again, you've gotten some pretty impressive results so far?

A: Honestly, it's what's expected out of our race teams. Obviously, I don't know if it's expected out of a rookie, but I feel like I've come out of this season with the best preparation possible from Team Penske and Ford Performance to take advantage of the opportunity that I have. From that standpoint, it's great people around me, great equipment, the same opportunity to succeed as the best guys in the sport.

Roger Penske puts the ball in your court, and we try to play ball.

Q: Your dad is involved in NASCAR. Did you spark your interest in racing or was it you coming up to him and saying, "I'm interested, and I want to do this?"

A: It was absolutely me coming up to him. If he would've had it his way, I would've had a basketball in my hand or a computer or musical instrument or something that's not a steering wheel. But, my parents have been very supportive of me and my brother and things we wanted to do in life. You can only really ask for that as a kid from your parents.

My family has been in the industry for generations, so having my mom and my dad to lean on throughout the journey and throughout the process to get to the top level has been very valuable, for sure.

Q: I want to switch gears just a bit. I'm told you are working on a project car. Could you talk a little bit about that.

A: Yeah, I'm starting to ramp back up production. I'll be honest — I haven't worked on it in about a year. Between the off-season being really busy with the Next-Gen car this past year, and the Cup schedule is not very forgiving, I haven't worked on it in about a year.

But I've been working on a 1993 Volvo 240 station wagon, and as dull and uninteresting as that may sound, I'm putting in the five-liter Coyote Engine that comes as stock in a new Ford Mustang. I'm swapping that engine into what's basically a boxy station wagon. I'm going to make it into something that's really obnoxious and fun to drive around town.

Q: One thing in your resume that's really interesting is you competed in the X Games in 2014. What was that experience like for you?

A: That was really cool. That was actually my first race in a Rally Car. I planned on running a partial schedule in Rallycross, while I was racing full-time in Open Wheel Cars, and I had the opportunity with a sponsor and someone to share a ride with.

I got to do X Games. It was a really cool experience, because getting a medal and being on the podium was really cool, especially for my first race. My brother Tanner, who's older than I am, we grew up playing Tony Hawk video games and Shaun White and all these guys. So, that was kind of the era we grew up in. So, the X Games were awesome. And, my grandma has a house that's really close to where they do the Winter X Games. So, we were always into it as kids.

The coolest part about all of it was that as an athlete in the X Games, I got an athlete's pass to the athlete's lounge. It was a big lounge with foosball tables and couches and a bar — I was 15 at the time — so my brother was my athlete support. So, we just walked up in there, and it was all the cool guys and two kids. It was a pretty cool experience, and it's something most guys don't get the opportunity to go do.

Q: Last question: what's your favorite snack? Denny Hamlin says it's anything with peanut butter; Chase Elliott says nothing beats a big bowl of cereal; and Austin Dillon says a chocolate chip cookie is hard to top.

A: Are we talking about a healthy snack?

Q: No, it's anything you like that's a favorite.

A: Man, if I had a box of Nutty Buddies next to me right now, I'd be in good shape.

Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.