Austin Cindric ends up ‘trapped’ in the aftermath of Brad Keselowski’s throwback weekend spin

NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric was among the top three Fords in Sunday’s (April 6) race at Darlington Raceway. However, he missed out on bagging a top-10, thus finishing P11 behind Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch.

Although Cindric didn’t call out anyone, he knew that it was all due to the caution that flew following Brad Keselowski’s wreck in lap 135. That very caution, the Team Penske driver explained during a post-race interview, “trapped” him one lap down on pit road.

"Obviously, stage points at the beginning with a great starting spot,” Cindric told the reporters (via Speedway Digest). “We had a good start, but unfortunately the caution came out and trapped us a lap down on the pit cycle and we spent the whole race trying to recover from that.”

Cindric and the No. 2 team ran well on short runs. They did fall off a bit on long runs, but his crew didn’t compromise on pit road adjustments. By the end of the race, the balance on his Ford Mustang Dark Horse was a lot better than it was at the beginning.

“I felt like we got the car a lot better balanced by the end of the race and we were fighting our way through making spots. We made a few more on that last restart, so it was a good way to end a day that was gonna be dominated by something out of our control,” Cindric added.

Austin Cindric is in his fourth year driving for Team Penske. He is a former Xfinity Series champion with two wins in the Cup Series, including the 2022 Daytona 500. As of today, the Mooresville native sits 21st in the driver standings with 151 points to his name.

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Austin Cindric opens up following Martinsville antics with 23XI newcomer

Last week in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, Austin Cindric had a run-in with fellow racer Riley Herbst. Herbst joined 23XI Racing this year as the driver of the No. 35, the team’s third full-time entry.

Recalling the situation during a recent interview with journalist Bob Pockrass, the speedster explained,

“I got jumbled up there off Turn 2… spent the entire front straightaway kinda getting squeezed and just got shoved up into the 35… It’s just a bit of a three-wide situation gone wrong.”

“I feel like that one’s a bit of a stretch to look at and go, ‘Oh man, he’s out to get him,” he added (1:35).

Next up for the drivers is the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Scheduled for Sunday, April 13, the 500-lap feature will stream live on Fox Sports 1 from 3 pm ET onwards with radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

This week’s winner, Denny Hamlin, is the defending champion at Bristol. He is on a two-race winning streak, which means the JGR icon is in a position to pull off a three-peat, just like his teammate Christopher Bell did a few weeks ago.