As Austin Cindric leaned against his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang with fireworks going off behind him and Daniel Hemric celebrating a victory and NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in the distance, there was an unmistakable look of disappointment.
It was tough ending to the race for the 2020 series champion, who had five wins on the year and led a race best 113 laps Saturday night only to get edged out for the season trophy – in a door-to-door finish – by a slight .030-second.
“If everyone in the stands enjoyed it, it is good racing,” a visibly frustrated Cindric said. “I’m appreciative of the opportunity to race on such a big stage, race for Roger Penske, represent Ford Performance, all of our sponsors that helped us this season.
“It would have been awesome to finish this out. I felt like we had a dominant race car, felt like we did everything right. Came up a little short.
“Thankful for the opportunity,” he added, “Pissed to be second for like the third week in a row.”
The four championship contenders fought for the victory all evening long in the Xfinity Series Championship Race with Cindric and Hemric exchanging the lead and having to fend off Noah Gragson and Regular Season Champion A.J. Allmendinger. Ultimately Hemric took his first ever race trophy in the biggest race of the season.
Cindric and the veteran Allmendinger paced the series all year with five wins each – a nice encore to Cindric’s tremendous 2020 championship season. And it all has resulted in a move to NASCAR’s “prime time” for the popular 23-year-old, who will be driving the No. 2 Team Penske Ford fulltime next year in the NASCAR Cup Series – following in the footsteps of a pair former Cup Series champions, NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace and 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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