"It's not a co-incidence": NASCAR Insiders applaud Austin Cindric following his Talladega win 

NASCAR Insider Jordan Bianchi recently commented on Austin Cindric following his Talladega win. The Team Penske driver secured his first victory of the season in a photo finish over Ryan Preece, ensuring his organization's first trip to the victory lane in 2025.

Following the race, Jordan Bianchi and his co-host Jeff Gluck discussed the race on their podcast show, The Teardown. At one point during the show, Bianchi touched on how some drivers were frustrated after the race because they couldn't make the moves to pass on the track.

Bianchi said that from the standpoint of him being optimistic, the race at Talladega felt a lot like an old school NASCAR superspeedway race because of how strategy heavy it was. He appreciated how the race unfolded, like 'an interesting game of a chess match.' He touched on there being many drivers and teams who were in a position to 'do something', such as Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell.

But due to one reason or the other, they took themselves out of those positions 'by a lot of miscues'.

Having said that, the NASCAR Insider mentioned that one can blame the package and that's fine because there is some 'truth in that.' But at the same time, there also has to be an acknowledgement of drivers who put themselves in promising positions, such as Austin Cindric. Bianchi addressed his co-host Jeff Gluck as he said:

"You and I have had this conversation about this car, skill level, and that was a popular this weekend. But we got a driver in Austin Cindric who is good in these races. Say what you will but he is typically good in the Next Gen era in these races and it's not a coincidence that he was again up there today." [4:30].

It's worth mentioning that Austin Cindric's win at Talladega was the second superspeedway win of his career. The #2 driver famously won the Daytona 500 in 2022, which he followed up with a win at Gateway last season in 2024

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Austin Cindric looks back on his win at Talladega

After securing the third win of his Cup career, Austin Cindric shared his thoughts in a post-race press conference. The Penske driver remarked how winning at a superspeedway, that too at Talladega, is 'such a challenging thing' to pull off.

Cindric credited his team for being there 'every step of the way', especially in the final stage. He described:

"For that to go green at the end, have a car capable, a team capable, have it all come together, it’s really gratifying. It’s definitely a relief given how a lot of these have gone. Doesn’t make me any special or different. These things go up in flames for most." [00:30]

Austin Cindric further said that he feels super grateful for having the opportunity to come through at a track like Talladega and to take the checkered flag at the end.