Austin Cindric's Gallant Roval Performance Not Enough To Advance To Round Of 8
1 month agoAustin Cindric tried his hardest to deliver a clutch victory at Charlotte to lock himself into the Round of 8 after his near-miss at Talladega. He started and finished fourth at the roval in his best road course drive in the Cup Series since his second-place finish at the Indianapolis roval in 2022. Although he never quite had winning speed, he did rank fifth in speed and generally outran both his Penske teammates who advanced to the Round of 8, even pulling away from Joey Logano in Stage 3 at a time when it looked like Logano might have needed to pass Cindric to advance. He definitely looked a little better in the second half of the season, but was still nowhere near the top eight in performance at any point this season, so it's understandable that he failed to advance.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference