AVONDALE, Ariz. – So far, it’s been a good weekend for Team Penske at ISM (Ariz.) Raceway.
In fact, it’s been a good year for the Roger Penske owned empire and not just in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series either.
Just three races into the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, championship contender Austin Cindric has already seen a vast improvement in performance.
Entering Saturday afternoon’s iK9 Service Dog 200, Cindric has earned one top-five and two top-10 finishes and began the season by finishing fifth at Daytona – the first Xfinity superspeedway race he’s finished without being involved in a wreck.
“Finishing at Daytona is probably the highlight of me just because it was a first for me to be able to make it all the way to end of a race there,” Cindric said.
Splitting a mixed schedule between driving for Roush Fenway Racing and Team Penske, Cindric earned his first top-10 in the season’s second race at Atlanta but his first top-five didn’t come until the eighth race at Richmond. In all, he earned just 13 top-10s between the two teams and finished 10th in the championship standings.
Still, while Cindric enjoyed some success, including a career-best second at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – the avid road course racer lacked the confidence and consistency he needed to make a statement. Something he hopes to change in 2019.
“I think the first couple races, the first two mile-and-a-half races I wish we probably could have executed a little better,” Cindric said. “As far as being able to adapt and react, I think that’s going to be a strength of ours just between recovering from issues like we have at Vegas.
“Those things will all take care of themselves, but the fact we’re able to make our cars better each time we touch the race track and get myself better every weekend – I’m looking to seeing the fruits of that in the coming weeks.”
Cindric, 20, appeared posited to earn a third straight top-10 finish last weekend at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway but was collected in a late-race wreck while running in the top-10 and finished 22nd.
Still, Cindric sits 10th in the series standings – nine spots better than he was three races into 2018.
Good start or not, Cindric knows the pressure is mounting to win races and Phoenix could provide the right opportunity to get into Victory Lane.
A positive for the Team Penske team, Phoenix is a track where he has the most experience.
Overall, Cindric has made five starts between the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (three) and Xfinity Series (two) – including a fourth-place finish last fall.
“I think (Phoenix) is a great opportunity for a win,” Cindric said for a smile. “As far as a notebook goes, I’ve got a very big notebook and I understand what it takes to drive around the track.
“I think we’ll probably be back in the window this weekend and really be able to hone in on that. Obviously, winning this weekend means beating Kyle Busch, which would be awesome, but we’ll see what it takes when we get there.”
Of course, winning a race will virtually lock the former ARCA Menards Series winner into the postseason Playoffs where he’ll seek the championship.
While making it to Homestead in 2017 driving for Brad Keselowski Racing – but finishing third overall, Cindric knows it will be tough to win the crown in the more competitive Xfinity Series.
“It’ll be tough,” Cindric explained. “Ever since going to the Playoff format, it’s tough. I think your only goal is to get to the Championship 4 and from there you have a shot. As far as dominating races and winning races, for me, that’s all great for the first two rounds of the Playoffs because that means you’ve got Playoff points.
“I feel like for me in the regular season that’s my biggest goal is to try and rack up Playoff points because it is important. I’ve done two years of NASCAR racing with roughly no Playoff points, so I know how hard that is to make it to the Championship 4 in that situation, so racking up Playoff points is super-crucial for me but making the Championship 4 gives you a shot.”
After pacing final Xfinity Series practice on Friday afternoon, the Mooresville, N.C.-native will start eighth for his 38th career race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
