DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Austin Cindric’s NASCAR XFINITY Series debut at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway was cut short when a loose No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang worked against the rookie and ultimately led to his 40th place finish in the PowerShares QQQ 300.
Reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Christopher Bell was collected in the aftermath with the damage too terminal to repair. Bell went to the garage on Lap 11 and finished 39th.
Cindric qualified his No. 60 Permatex Ford 10th and began maneuvering through the field, but a loose race car put the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship 4 contender into a vulnerable position between the cars of Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick with the No. 60 Ford looking like a ping-pong ball before colliding with Bell and slamming into the front stretch wall.
“I learned that waiting until the end really isn’t a thing,” said Cindric. “It is tough because you just work all year to get prepared and you work all year trying to find seats to sit in. It is just unfortunate it only lasts that long. It is longer than my Truck race lasted last year, that is a plus. I hate it for the guys on the 60 and anybody else involved. We will move on to Atlanta.”
Bell said the accident happened so fast, he was left little time to recover.
“I didn’t see what happened,” sounded Bell. “There was a car parked in front of me and I ran into him.”
Cindric though won’t be in the No. 60 at Atlanta. Ford Performance development driver Chase Briscoe will drive the No. 60 Ford in the Feb. 24 race, while Cindric will move to the Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford Mustang for the 300-mile event.
“I look forward to seeing how Chase (Briscoe) and those guys do in the 60. I will be in the 12,” added Cindric. “Hopefully we have a longer race down there. We were a little loose coming off of four but I need to see a replay to see how close the 18 was to my door.
“Those guys were getting pretty aggressive for lap 10 or wherever we were. It is unfortunate to be put in that position, but we were just racing.”
As for Bell, he’ll have 32 races to recover from Saturday’s misfortunate, but the championship favorite is glad to leave Daytona behind and look forward to Atlanta.
“We’ll get ready for the rest of the season. We knew coming into Daytona there could be a mishap. We tested at Atlanta and it’s one of my favorite race tracks so I am excited to get there.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
