F-150 NASCAR Rookie Beats Great Odds to Post Respectable Finish
A run in with a wall, mechanical gremlins, and a surprise rain shower couldn’t keep Austin Cindric from finishing the race at Pocono.
It isn’t like NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie Austin Cindric hasn’t already faced his fair share of adversity. After all, the 18-year old rookie F-150 NASCAR driver had to leave his high school graduation this spring and drive straight to Charlotte Motor Speedway for that night’s race. But this past weekend at the Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway couldn’t have started much worse for the young driver.
In his first practice of the day, Cindric’s truck suffered a cut tire that sent him into the outside wall off turn 1. His crew immediately pulled the backup No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford off the trailer for the final practice. But mechanical issues with that truck meant that Cindric couldn’t even complete a lap at full speed. By the time the crew got things sorted out, a massive downpour prematurely ended final practice.
Without the benefit of a full speed lap in his backup truck, Cindric took it easy in qualifying. That meant he had to start from the 17th position in the 60-lap race. After fighting a tight setup for 17 laps, Cindric’s crew made major adjustments that finally enabled him to compete. By lap 27 he had moved up to 9th, and he reached 7th place in the closing laps.
The impressive Pocono outing was Cindric’s fourth straight top-10 finish, and he currently stands 10th in the championship rankings. That, after he landed outside the top-20 in the season’s first three races. But even more impressive than the rookie’s steady climb up the ranks might be his grown-up mentality.
“We had a tough start to the season and been playing catchup all year,” Cindric told The Times-Tribune heading into the race. “We’ve been scratching and clawing our way back up. From here on out, we have the mentality that we have to be perfect and get solid results.”
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