2 weeks agoTeam Penske's Austin Cindric nabbed a starting position of sixth after qualifying for Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Cindric was the top qualifier of the three Penske entries for this week's race. In six starts at Darlington, Cindic has five top-20 finishes, but none inside the top 10, and he did score positive Place Differential three times. Through seven races so far this season, Cindric has two top-10 finishes and only once has scored positive PD. In practice, Cindric ranked fifth in overall lap averages, third in five consecutive, sixth in 10 consecutive, and fourth in 15 consecutive lap averages. Despite great practice speeds, Cindric is a risk who provides low upside with a track history that shows that he may not stay inside the top 10. Fantasy players should use Cindric mainly as a pivot option in tournament lineups for Sunday.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
3 weeks agoAustin Cindric qualified 20th for Sunday's Martinsville race. Although he seems to be starting to become something of a weekly threat, Martinsville will probably be an exception to that. He did actually finish fourth in last fall's race, but unlike his No. 2 car predecessors Rusty Wallace, Kurt Busch, and Brad Keselowski, short tracks have hardly been his best discipline. That race was his only top-five finish on a short track, although his other top-10 showing also came here in 2023. It's certainly possible that his uptick in speed that we have seen elsewhere will show up here, but his current statistical record at the track suggests it probably won't, therefore he isn't likely one of the best DFS options.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
4 weeks agoAlthough Austin Cindric had a reputation of fading to mid-pack in most of the races where he qualified well, that definitely seems to have stopped in 2025 as he has seemed to have a lot more staying power up front. In last week's race at Las Vegas, he overcame a loose wheel after winning Stage 1 to finish 6th. Such a recovery was not typical of him in previous seasons and the Team Penske cars seem faster on a race-by-race level than they have the past couple years. Given the fact that he qualified 8th at Homestead, Cindric will still probably lose positions in the race but he has been leading enough including at Las Vegas that there is a distinct possibility he might accumulate some leader and/or fastest lap points in this race, but he likely needs to lead to have any DFS value.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 month agoIn a race where all the Team Penske drivers and their Wood Brothers satellite entry for Josh Berry seemed quite fast, Austin Cindric outdueled Alex Bowman to win Stage 1 at Sunday's Las Vegas race -- his first stage win on a non-drafting oval since Gateway in 2022. He still continuously ran in the top 10 until he had to pit a second time during the caution for Shane van Gisbergen's crash for a loose wheel, but he eventually worked his way up to sixth. If all the cars that stayed out of the pits on the eighth caution had ended up running out of fuel, which seemed very possible at one point, Cindric might've been in the hunt for the win since there were times he was ahead of William Byron and Kyle Larson -- the latter of whom he out-finished. Perhaps this suggests he has more staying power after strong qualifying sessions than he did in previous years.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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