Austin Cindric Calm About His Future at Team Penske
Driver Austin Cindric shows no concern about his future at Team Penske, despite the recent departure of his father, Tim Cindric, who was fired by team owner Roger Penske.
Cindric competes with the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, and is currently in 12th position in the standings, with three top-ten finishes in twelve races, including a win at Talladega. This victory was Team Penske’s first of the 2025 NASCAR season.
Given the family connection to Team Penske, his father’s departure generated speculation about how it might affect the young Cindric.
Penske met in person with all his NASCAR drivers in Charlotte following the changes, including Austin Cindric.
When asked if he received any assurances from Penske about this not affecting his future with the NASCAR team, Cindric shook his head and said, “I don’t think that was up for discussion.”
“Their support has always been very strong and also very transparent,” Cindric said after Saturday’s qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “When I haven’t performed at my best, we’ve had those conversations. But, other than that, it’s business as usual for me.”
Austin Cindric
Tim Cindric was one of the three executives fired by Penske after it was discovered that two Penske cars were illegal following qualifying tests at the Indianapolis 500. Along with Cindric, IndyCar general manager Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar managing director Kyle Moyer were also fired.
Penske owns three IndyCars, IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Indianapolis 500. He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 20 times.“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our racing teams,” Penske stated in a statement. “We have had organizational failures over the past two years, and we had to make the necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners, and our organization for letting them down.”
Roger Penske
Cindric called this the best start of his career and believes his team has a lot of momentum after the victory at Talladega.
Cindric stated that his father’s firing will not affect his focus on Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.“Professionally, I’m not in a different place than I was a week ago,” Cindric said. “I feel like we have a lot of momentum on our team right now in the No. 2 car. I’ve never felt better and had a better start to the season. So for me, I’m just focused on execution. I feel like we’ve had very fast cars.”
Austin Cindric
