NASCAR influencer makes his unfiltered 'skepticism' known about Austin Cindric’s future at Team Penske

Austin Cindric is preparing for his fourth full-time Cup Series season with Team Penske, a dominant force in NASCAR’s top division. However, a NASCAR influencer recently raised doubts about Cindric’s long-term future with the team.

Former Xfinity Series champion Cindric pilots the #2 Ford for Team Penske and will compete in his seventh full-time season with the team across the Cup and Xfinity Series. In his NASCAR career, Cindric has amassed 16 race wins, of which only two were secured in the Cup Series.

NASCAR influencer Eric Estepp, who has nearly 240,000 YouTube subscribers, recently discussed Team Penske’s internal shuffle involving Austin Cindric’s father Tim Cindric. Tim was moved from Penske’s NASCAR division to its IndyCar program, but Estepp remains skeptical about how this change might impact Austin Cindric’s future with the team.

"Look I'm skeptical that this Tim Cindric news is going to have any immediate impact on Austin's driving career. Tim Cindric is still Roger Penske's guy, it's not like he's leaving the organization. he's still very much a part of the company just a slightly lesser role," Estepp said [6:52 onwards].

"Austin Cindric last signed a contract extension in early 2023, nearly two years ago. These days in NASCAR, it's rare to see a driver contract more than like 3 years in length. So more than likely in the next couple of years, Austin will be up for renewal. Will he get it? Probably but it would be a much easier decision to make if Austin was able to take a big step forward on the racetrack," he added

Cindric finished last year's Cup Series campaign in P11 after failing to advance to Round 8 of the playoffs. Meanwhile, his teammates at Penske battled it out until the end for the championship title, which Joey Logano secured for the third time.

"We need to see a leap": NASCAR influencer outlines some hard truths about Austin Cindric's Cup career

Eric Estepp highlighted some "hard truths" about 26-year-old Austin Cindric’s Cup Series career compared to his championship-winning teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. While Estepp acknowledged Cindric’s talent and potential at Team Penske, he emphasized the significant performance gap between him and his teammates.

In the aforementioned video on the NASCAR influencer's channel, he said [7:43]:

"There are some hard truths we have to acknowledge when talking about Austin Cindric's performance. His best year statistically was his rookie season. In 2022, he had the most top fives had the most top ten's, had the best average finish of his career, won the Daytona 500, Austin Cindrc has never been that good since."

"Guy can drive but he's 26 years old now, he's entering year four of his NASCAR Cup Series career. We need to see a leap. I know it's difficult to operate within the shadows of his championship teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, but the Gap right now is too wide," he added

Meanwhile, the Cup Series will return for the pre-season Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday, February 2. Catch the highly awaited action at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM's NASCAR channel.