POCONO, Pa. – Utilizing a new aerodynamic package at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric used the opportunity to deliver a career-best fourth place finish in Saturday afternoon’s Pocono Green 250.
More importantly, Cindric rebounded from a late-race speeding penalty to tally his fifth top-10 of his Xfinity career.
The strong recovery allowed the Team Penske driver to net his second top-five finish of the season and earn the second highest points for an Xfinity Series driver.
“It was awesome to be able to experience running up there against Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch and those guys,” said Cindric. “That is experience that I can’t give up. I love racing around those guys. Chase was saving tires behind us and that was a pretty cool deal.
“I gotta have more races like this and need to get some stage wins so that we can be-be comfortably competitive come the playoffs.”
Cindric recovered from issues during the first practice session Friday but rallied throughout the weekend with speed in his No. 12 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang.
In qualifying on Saturday, Cindric qualified third and maintained a top-five presence throughout Stage 1, finishing third.
Restarting 10th for the start of Stage 2, Cindric’s Ford maneuvered through the field and found himself in a position to push teammate Paul Menard to the Stage win – while Cindric settled for fourth in a side-by-side draft with Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier.
After pitting for tires, fuel and adjustment, Cindric was tagged with the penalty that dropped him from the top-five to 17th at Lap 47.
Over the final 53 laps, Cindric methodically worked through the field and used a 34-lap green flag stretch following the final caution to drive his car from seventh to fourth.
The Mooresville, N.C.-native heads to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for his first Xfinity Series start and the second consecutive race with the aerodynamic package used in the 12th race of the season. Last year, the 19-year-old finished fifth after starting eighth in a Truck Series race fielded by Brad Keselowski Racing.
Cindric is optimistic about how the race will unfold in the Irish Hills.
“We have two more races with this same package and I think Michigan will be more of a pack race because we expect it to be wide open all the way around,” added Cindric who sits 10th in points, 60 above the Playoff cutline. “Here, the detriment to this package is you had to get all the way out of the gas, so it was still a handling race.
“I can’t complain because I had a really fast Mustang and it was a car that with track position it was capable of winning. When that is the case everything is in your hands and that is all a driver can ask for.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
