MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Austin Cindric’s 25th place finish in Saturday afternoon’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway may not look good on paper, but anyone watching the highly anticipated slugfest knew his performance and effort was anything less than stellar.
Especially in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) debut at one of the most demanding tracks on the circuit.
But a late race bump on Lap 193 took any hope of adding his name to the list of earning a top-10 finish in his series debut. Still, the teenager had plenty to be proud of.
Cindric, the son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric was announced earlier this weekend to drive the No. 29 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing subbing for the injured Austin Theriault.
And while stepping up to NASCAR may have been a difficult challenge to hurdle, Cindric proved it was the exact opposite.
Solid results in practice Friday afternoon continued to qualifying Saturday morning and when the green flag flew for the 200-lap race, Cindric exercised patience hoping it would pay off when he needed it the most.
Unfortunately, a late race spin triggered by an aggressive driver sent Cindric to the back of the field with two laps left to recover. Mired back in traffic, Cindric hopes of finding a hole to nudge his way through proved nothing more than to be a wicked Halloween trick.
Showing speed and finesse at Martinsville makes Cindric a worthy candidate to earn another opportunity behind the wheel of a Brad Keselowski Racing truck, just when and where is the lingering question.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
