Austin Cindric Weaker On Road Courses Than Advertised
2 months agoAustin Cindric has a reputation as a road course specialist that is not entirely warranted. Although he was generally very good in his NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses in 2021 and 2022, he has only managed two top ten finishes in the nine road course races since. It seems he may have had an initial advantage on road courses after NASCAR abruptly decided to add many more road courses to the schedule but that advantage has been nullified as that the drivers who are generally better than him everywhere else gain experience on them. Although his fifth-place starting position is very solid, Watkins Glen is one of only two road courses where he has not posed a top ten. Coupling that with Team Penske's lack of speed on road courses and his general trend of finishing worse than he starts, it's clear that expectations should be muted.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference