Austin Cindric gets real about his $6,400,000,000-worth boss Roger Penske’s ‘shameful’ ordeal following Atlanta agony

Austin Cindric, driving one of the top Ford Mustangs in the NCS for $6.4 billion worth (as per Forbes) Roger Penske, opened up about his own and the overall disappointment suffered by the top Ford cars in Atlanta. He explained how the Fords have been amongst the fastest cars at Daytona and Atlanta but have failed to convert that into good results, calling the whole situation 'shameful'.

When the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway concluded on Sunday, February 23, there was only one Ford in the top 10 - the No. 12 BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford of Ryan Blaney in P4. The next Ford was in P11 of Zane Smith followed by the Shell Pennzoil Ford of Joey Logano in P12.

Austin Cindric had the worst result of all the Team Penske drivers, crashing out of the race on lap 258 of 260 and taking out William Byron. Cindric was in contention for the win but was stuck behind Kyle Larson. While attempting to gain on Larson on the outside, he got into the fence and spun his No. 2 Ford while also taking out Byron into Turn 2.

Cindric later spoke about the disappointment of the Ford drivers, saying (via Kelly Crandall on X):

"As a team, as Fords, we had the best cars here this weekend. We put ourselves into position to win the race and got used up and into the fence and didn’t win the race. It’s a shame. Two weeks in a row I feel like we have had the car to beat and haven’t done it. One way or another it is disappointing."

Fords are generally considered the best cars on Superspeedways and drafting-style tracks. However, the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway also saw the Fords absent from the top six finishing spots, with Blaney and Cindric taking P7 and P8, respectively.

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Austin Cindric blames Kyle Larson for the Atlanta wreck

Austin Cindric started the race in a good position after qualifying second. On Saturday, February 22, he was just two-thousandths of a second behind his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. The Fords seemed to have the outright best pace at Atlanta with nine cars qualifying in the top 10 except for Kyle Busch in P6 in his RCR Chevrolet.

Cindric maintained his position in Stage 1 but was shuffled back to ninth in Stage 2 as Hendrick Motorsports star Kyle Larson took the stage win. In the final laps of the final stage, Larson and Cindric were battling for the lead when Larson seemingly pushed Cindric wide as the No. 2 driver attempted to make a run on the outside and ended up in the wall.

Austin Cindric later spoke about the move from Larson and suggested that he should have been given more room on the outside.

"I don't know what information he's getting, but obviously my car was on his outside, so it definitely merits a conversation. So, it's unfortunate because we led a lot of laps and had four of the fastest cars in Atlanta and didn't win with one of them," Cindric told Bob Pockrass.

Despite the Ford cars' misfortunes, one of them is leading the championship. Ryan Blaney leads the standings (87 points), with William Byron (75 points), Tyler Redick (72 points), and Austin Cindric (68 points) behind him.