| Ford Performance Notes and QuotesNASCAR Cup SeriesEchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Media AvailabilityWednesday, February 26, 2025 |
| Austin Cindric, driver of the No 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, comes into this weekend’s race at Circuit of The Americas fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings. Cindric, who led a race-high 59 laps in the Daytona 500, is part of a Team Penske trio that has combined to lead 256 of the 467 laps that have been completed through two races. He spoke with members of the media this afternoon about the start to his season and what lies ahead in this weekend’s first road course event. AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU’VE HAD EXPERIENCE DRIVING FORD PERFORMANCE SPORTS CARS, WHETHER IT BE GT4 OR GT3, AND MADE THE PODIUM AT THE ROLEX 24 THIS PAST YEAR. HOW DOES THAT HELP YOU AT A PLACE LIKE COTA THIS WEEKEND? “I think certainly having that experience doesn’t hurt. It’s a lot of similarities, but, at the same time, comparison to endurance racing there are quite a few differences as well with how the cars work and so on, but I obviously got my warm-up, if you will, at the Rolex earlier this year – a lot of hours and a lot of laps logged in the GT3 there, but I’m certainly looking forward to going back to COTA and seeing what the new layout is about and what kind of new challenges that brings up.” HAVE YOU TALKED TO LARSON AND, IF SO, WHEN? “Yeah, Kyle and I got connected on Monday and I thought we had a good talk. Kyle took responsibility on the end of the race, which obviously ended our race and kind of talking about it doesn’t really unwreck my race car, but I think we’re on the same page as what the expectations are moving forward racing together. I think it’s important. It’s about all I can influence is talking about it, but I hope to race Kyle and I certainly have a lot of respect, but I know if I want to win in this series I’m certainly gonna have to race against him a lot more, so I certainly expect us to be at that level throughout the year, and I expect it to be better than what we had on Sunday.” HOW DO YOU THINK THE SHORTER COURSE WILL IMPACT THE RACE AND WILL IT IMPACT AT ALL THINGS LIKE RESTARTS AND THE TYPE OF MOMENTUM YOU MIGHT HAVE WHEN YOU GO INTO TURN ONE? “The course, I would say, is largely unchanged from – otherwise we’re just cutting a few corners out really simply. I think the larger conversation for us, at least within my race team, is the introduction of yet another road course tire, which is supposed to be similar to what we raced at Watkins Glen in the playoffs, so I think there’s probably more variables and more discussions based around that and more potential strategy and certain things throughout the race that will be affected by having tire wear or not having tire wear and depending on where it falls. There have been repaved sections of the race track, but as far as the course itself, the shortcut through 6A and 6B, I think your restarts are already kind of single file by the time you get to the end of the esses, which is where 6A starts, so I don’t see a ton changing other than we’re just gonna run more laps and I feel like that stadium section is gonna take a larger percentage of the lap and potentially be a more important part of the lap.” DID YOU GIVE JEFF ANDREWS A BUSINESS CARD TO GET THAT CONVERSATION WITH KYLE? “I did. I figured I would need to explain that today. Essentially, when the race was over, I was helping my guys load the car and as you’re standing there we’re the first hauler. I can’t say I was really in a very good head space to want to talk to anybody, but at the same time knowing that this is something I definitely wanted to discuss with Kyle it was like, ‘OK, if somebody comes up to me I’m just gonna give them my phone number and be done with it.’ Then I realized in my backpack, and I haven’t used one of these since like 2016, but I do have a stack of business cards that I brought around with me for like going to the Rolex as a teenager handing them out to team owners and team managers, so I still have all of them in my backpack, and I saw Jeff Andrews and Chad Knaus standing over by the 24 hauler, so I figured that was a good way of ensuring that I would get my conversation and that would be a lot healthier than just showing up at the racetrack. Sometimes guys will reach out to you and sometimes guys won’t. I don’t have a super close relationship with Kyle by any means, so it’s not like he’s got my number. I guess that was my way of saying, ‘Hey, we really need to talk about this,’ in a way that was gonna be not emotional for me because at the time I was pretty frustrated.” CONNOR ZILISCH IS MAKING HIS CUP DEBUT THIS WEEKEND AND HE’S LISTED AMONG THE FAVORITES IN A COUPLE PLACES. WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS MADE HIM SO ADVANCED AS A ROAD COURSE RACER AT HIS AGE AND HOW SERIOUSLY ARE YOU TAKING HIM AS A CONTENDER ON SUNDAY? “I think if you look at the field, you could probably pick out 12 guys that you think could contend for the race win, and I think Connor is certainly talented enough to have pace. I think a lot comes with having your first Cup Series race, but I think he’s done stuff in IMSA that has been super impressive to me. The 12 Hours win last year at Sebring, I think, for me, the finishing stint and all that, he’s done an exceptional job, especially at his age. He’s coming up through the ranks quite quickly, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on, but there’s no doubt that I’m sure he’ll have some pace.” WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU ANTICIPATE IN THIS RACE? “I think the tire management, as I touched on earlier, will be the biggest variable going into the weekend as far as the last few years we’ve been there there hasn’t been a large amount of tire fall off at race pace, so this tire that we’re bringing and I feel like is worth adding, hasn’t to the best of my knowledge been on the racetrack before, so it’s kind of new to everyone. We have a couple sets of tires for practice to be able to feel that out, so I think that could play a large role in the strategy, but I think track position is always important at road courses, especially at COTA due to how you exit turn one really sets up for the lap because the field gets very single file after the esses, just the nature of essentially a slalom course for the cars, so it’s easy to get pretty spread out and lose touch of the top few cars quite quickly, so qualifying will be exceptionally important, and I think understanding what the tire is like will be exceptionally important.” WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TEAM NEEDS THIS YEAR TO GET A TOP FIVE AT COTA? “I think at COTA, for us, last year was certainly a frustrating event because it felt like we had a top five car and we got in a wreck on the first lap and caved in the nose and really damaged the plumbing to the engine, so I was down probably 50-100 horsepower the rest of the race, which was exceptionally frustrating. I actually rewatched that race today and relived some of the frustration of that. It’s been one of our better road course events, but I would still say the expectation for us is probably a little bit higher than a solid top 10 at some of these tracks, so I think going with the mindset that, yeah, we definitely need to be better and the new layout and the new tire definitely provides some different challenges and some different opportunities.” WHEN DID YOU START THINKING ABOUT SPEAKING UP MORE AND MAYBE THAT’S COMING OUT A BIT MORE NOW? “I don’t know. That’s hard to say. I felt like I could have said a lot more than I did. I like to honestly keep that behind closed doors, so maybe if you felt like I spoke up, I felt like I was holding back so that tells you how upset I was with the situation. It’s still something I’m relatively upset about and gets the blood pressure going a little bit, but that’s racing. I’m not the only one that’s been in those positions and felt like they haven’t been able to capitalize on an opportunity to win a race, or had somebody else be the cause of that. It doubles down with it being two weeks in a row and at this level race wins don’t fall out of the sky, so you’ve got to work at them and it’s hard to put yourself in that position. That’s just part of it. As far as me sharing and being open about certain things on track, I guess that was me not being very open about certain things, so that maybe tells the picture right there.” WHAT COULD HE SAY THAT WOULD HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE AT THAT POINT? “I’ve always viewed it, and whenever I explain to people that don’t often consume – especially whether it’s a drafting style races or just NASCAR racing in general – it’s a very social sport for a few different reasons. One, there are so many high level drivers. Two, we have so many races on the schedule and, three, we spend the majority of our time racing, instead of just driving, and I think that’s what separates NASCAR from all other forms of motorsports. So, you have all of these individual existing relationships with all the drivers that you compete against, and I think it’s important to talk because you’ve got to share perspectives and share experiences. Like I said earlier on this call, it doesn’t make anything better. It doesn’t give us points. It doesn’t do anything for my season to have that conversation, but I think the words that you can share are fantastic as along as you’re able to follow through, and I think those conversations are between drivers and are all managed differently. Like I said, I think it all comes down to what that looks like on track and how that respect is shared. If it’s not, or if it is, I feel like having a more open relationship to talk about things and work through things is the first step to getting better.” AFTER WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH, WHAT WON’T YOU PUT UP WITH THIS WEEKEND ON A ROAD COURSE? “If you’re asking me essentially about driver ethics, I feel like I’ve always tried to be very consistent in how I race and also consistent in when I’ve screwed up, so I can’t speak for anyone else or try and understand some others decisions, but as far as I’m concerned, being consistent, whether if it’s being aggressive and not giving an inch or being smart at the right times, I try to chew most the same. As far as predicting the future, I can’t. The best way is to just be faster than everybody in a race like this.” WILL EVERYBODY HAVE MORE OF A LEARNING CURVE AT PHOENIX THAN THE LAST COUPLE RACES THERE WITH A NEW OPTION TIRE? “You’ve certainly caught me off guard. I can’t even think that I’ve put any thought into Phoenix whatsoever. You just live week to week here, but even the option tire, I had that in the back of my head. It’s a variable for sure, and I think it changes strategy. Similar to Richmond, I don’t feel like you’re gonna change your day as far as track position, but it can certainly influence things and be a strategy play to be the first to do the right thing. It’s always interesting to see how those things play out and I think Phoenix is kind of an evolution to seeing what we can try there, but as far as our team is concerned, obviously, we have a great notebook there. As the west coast swing normally is, especially Phoenix and Vegas, they’re both two very good reads on where your program is at and things early on that you want to get to work on, so does it make it harder to feel what those things might be because you have this other new element? Perhaps, but, otherwise, it’s the same for everyone.” VEGAS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PLACE WHERE WE KNOW WHICH TEAMS ARE GOOD AND WHICH ONES NEED TO GO TO WORK. IS THAT STILL THE CASE? “It’s a track that challenges the car in most ways. You’re dealing with handling and versatility and raw speed, so, yeah, it’s one of the first racetracks we go to that does challenge all of those things or checks most of the boxes. I think another thing that’s worth pointing out is that in the first two races and even after COTA this weekend, our pit crews have yet to actually do I would say a normal four tire pit stop – not waiting on fuel, not road course, geometries and cambers and so on. Those guys have been jumping over the wall already this year for two races and there will be a third one this weekend and haven’t actually gotten to let their hair down and see their full potential as well, so I think that’s another element to add onto that. Phoenix and Vegas are kind of gonna be the first races where we’re gonna get to see those guys give it their all and what they’ve worked on in the offseason. I think it feels that way for everybody. You kind of get into a more normal handling style of races that we have on the schedule and that’s why I feel like Vegas falls in line just with that.” THERE’S A STRONG CASE YOU COULD BE HERE WITH TWO VICTORIES. HOW DO YOU GET PAST THESE FIRST TWO WEEKS AND STILL RUN WELL IN THE HOPES OF MAKING THE PLAYOFFS? “I think you just described racing. It’s why I love having a thirty-plus race schedule is because I can just absolutely go and dive head first into my prep work. If I’m gonna use Atlanta as the example, by the time our plane landed from a relatively short flight I was already done with all of my notes and my debriefs and had all of my thoughts documented for the team on the event. By lunch time on Monday I had a call scheduled with Kyle and by Tuesday I’m completely over at least the work that needs to be done for it, so that’s kind of how I process those things, but I think by the time I get to the racetrack it’s back to business and there’s plenty of other things to focus on, but it’s easy to say all that, but, yeah, it certainly is frustrating. Even when people say, ‘Oh, you’re still fourth in points.’ It’s like, that’s just as much of a kick in between the legs as it is losing all of those points we could have had, so it’s difficult, but that’s just the sport that we’re in. I’d rather have the big opportunities become missed opportunities than not have the opportunities at all, and my team has done an exceptional job. I’ve been able to match that effort at these races, and I see no reason why we can’t continue to do that.” I FIGURED YOU WOULD HAVE EVERY INDY 500 DRIVER’S PHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING KYLE’S. HOW MANY DRIVER’S NUMBERS DO YOU HAVE AND IS THAT PART OF YOUR PHILOSOPHY? “Not many. I do not have many of my competitors’ phone numbers. First of which, I’m not a very social person. I don’t view getting to know people away from the racetrack, if anything it’s a competitive distraction for me. I have people that I’m friendly with. I have guys that I enjoy spending time with. I feel like I have a good relationship with my teammates on and off the racetrack, but I’d say the majority of the Cup field I’m not in contact with at all. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to realize, I mean you look at the driver intro stage and you kind of see who likes talking to each other and most of the time I’m just sitting at the front of it waiting for the race to start, so that’s kind of the only thing that really matters to me because at the end of the day I think it’s just easier for me to separate it all. If we’re just competitors and that’s the only relationship that exists, I feel like that’s a lot simpler for me.” HOW DO YOU FEEL WITH HOMESTEAD NOT BEING A PLAYOFF RACE THIS YEAR? “Miami has certainly been a staple in the playoffs, but it’s also one of those places you go to towards the end of the year, things are winding down. If I think of the team guys, some of them bring their families or you’re trying to enjoy the area as well as just the race. For me, I don’t think I’ve been doing this long enough to really appreciate or have the nostalgia that I would say most in the industry do about going down there towards the end of the year, but, otherwise, I do think that racetrack puts on great races when it’s maybe a little cooler out, to where you’re not just completely married to the outside lane towards the end of a stint. I think night races there look really good, especially with what our car can do when put on intermediate, multi-grooved racetracks, so I think there’s potential we could see a really great race down there, and I think that’s a racetrack that is certainly capable of it.” |
