Austin Cindric feels 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 is 'exciting for someone in my position'

One of the 12 drivers hunting for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship this year is rookie Austin Cindric. The young 24-year-old driver kicked off his first season in the highest echelon of the sport in spectacular fashion after winning the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Since the highs of winning the prestigious 500-mile-long race, Cindric has been consistent with his results, which earned him a spot in the upcoming Round of 12 races in the playoffs.

Driving for Team Penske alongside Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, Cindric seems confident heading into the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 which goes live from Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday. This is the sport's second visit to the 1.5-mile-long track this season, and with Cindric's team's performance here last time around, things are looking up for the rookie.

Austin Cindric spoke on how stressful heading into the first Round of 12 race has been for him and said:

“Stressful for somebody. I think Texas went well for us in the All-Star Race. I’m not saying that’s gonna mean good things for the second one of the year, but we’ve got good notes and a good opportunity to improve from what was a fairly dominant race for our team between the three of us, so I think this round is exciting for someone in my position and try to maximize it.”

Cindric also spoke about the struggles he had at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, finishing in P20, and said:

“I think it’s more of a motivator to anyone that had any doubts like within the team like, ‘Oh, man. We’re done.’ You have to have those thoughts in that situation. You’ve got a right-front down and you go four laps down and you get trapped. You’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh. We’re done. We can’t do this.’ To anyone that would have had those thoughts in the race, I can have those thoughts in the car as well. I didn’t.”

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Austin Cindric speaks on his experience in testing at Homestead Miami Speedway

Team Penske racing driver Austin Cindric was one of the few drivers slated to run the Next Gen car testing at Homestead Miami Speedway over the past week. The 24-year-old rookie displayed some great speed at the 1.5-mile-long track. He elaborated on his experience behind the wheel and said:

“Homestead is such a unique racetrack. I wish we would have gotten that chance for probably a few other playoff tracks as far as open tests, but everyone has had the same opportunity and we’ll have the same opportunity to go back and look at the data, but I think it’s also valuable to do it on a tire that’s consistent between a lot of intermediates now, so I think from that standpoint it’s great.”

Watch Austin Cindric try and advance into the Round of 8 starting this Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.