Austin Cindric responds cryptically to Dale Jr.'s criticism over Nashville race overtime

Team Penske driver Austin Cindric responded to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s criticism for initiating the first overtime in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The race eventually spiraled into a record five overtime restarts before Cindric's teammate Joey Logano took the checkered flag.

In the recent episode of Dale Jr. Download, the NASCAR Hall of Famer blamed Cindric for triggering the chaotic overtime sequence. The #2 Penske Ford driver spun out exiting Turn 2 on the back straightway, leaving Dale Jr. baffled as to how such a mistake could occur in the final laps.

"If there's anything that you didn't like about the end of the race, you should blame Austin Cindric. Because Austin Cindric is running a 400 mile race and spun out on the back straightaway with two laps to go." Dale Jr. said [at 35:40].

"He goes way down the track and spins out to the right, I mean, how do you do that? I wanna know how do you do that? None of this happens if Austin can get off turn 2 like he did for 398 miles," he added.

Cindric swiftly responded to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s remarks on X, explaining that he had cut his right rear tire while battling Noah Gragson on the penultimate lap. He also posted a gif of an angry bear punching a bunny, implying he was not to blame for spinning out on the back straightaway.

"Me: cuts down a RR tire, @DaleJr:" the caption on his post read with the gif.

The #2 Penske driver wound up finishing 15th after the five overtime restarts.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares hilarious analogy to Austin Cindric's spin

Dale Jr., seemingly unaware of Austin Cindric cutting his right rear tire, hilariously compared the #2 Penske driver's spin on the front stretch to a UPS delivery driver traveling across the country only to slip up on the front porch.

"That's like the UPS guy or Amazon or FedEx, you buy something, it ships all the way across the country, the guy throws it on the front porch and breaks it. It's like, 'Made it all the way to the front porch and got busted. What the hell? What in the hell?' So Austin Cindric, it's on you buddy," Dale Jr. narrated.

Cindric's spin turned out to be a blessing in disguise for his Penske teammates. Joey Logano, who was 14th when the caution came out, went on to win the race through the five overtime restarts. Ryan Blaney was 31st and worked his way to a sixth-place finish.