After his late heartbreak at Daytona, Austin Cindric suffered another premature end as he crashed in the final stages of the race in Atlanta. The Team Penske No.2 driver was the frontrunner to cross the line in the final three laps of the Ambetter Health 400. But he failed to snap his poor run of luck and cruise past the white flag once again.
Austin Cindric’s Unlucky Streak Continues
Last week, Cindric seemed set for a statement Daytona 500 victory after leading 59 laps and finishing top five in 145 laps. Cindric overcame his teammate Joey Logano’s strong start to take control in Stage 2.
His shot at victory slipped away, however, when Chase Briscoe nudged Cole Custer into Denny Hamlin. Cindric avoided major damage, but the minor bump was enough to stall his momentum. He finished eighth in the end.
In the hunt for another win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he was derailed when Kyle Larson made an audacious move up the inside. Larson moved up the track without fully clearing Cindric and it crushed the 2022 Daytona 500 champion’s hopes of a win or even a respectable finish.
Austin Cindric, "As a team, as Fords, we had the best cars here this weekend. We put ourselves into position to win the race and got used up and into the fence and didn’t win the race. It’s a shame. Two weeks in a row I feel like we have had the car to beat and haven’t done it.…
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) February 24, 2025
“It was unfortunate. As a team, as Fords, we had the best cars here this weekend,” Cindric said afterward. “We put ourselves into position to win the race and got used up and into the fence and didn’t win the race. It’s a shame. Two weeks in a row I feel like we have had the car to beat and haven’t done it. One way or another, it is disappointing.”
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for Cindric considering he has nothing to show for his incredible stat of winning 106 laps in only two races. To put this information into context, the 26-year-old won only 256 laps in the entirety of last season.
What Did Larson Say About the Incident?
Larson finished third in the race, but he did not avoid responsibility for Cindric’s misfortunes.
Kyle Larson on running Austin Cindric to the wall:
"I just probably ran him out of space. I haven't seen the replay yet, but I'm assuming that's what happened." pic.twitter.com/wobgkKplBf
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) February 24, 2025
“Yeah, just a little bit of a lazy kind of up the track,” Larson said about the incident. “He got there a little bit quicker than I thought he would. I thought he was going to pick me up on the exit at [Turn] two. Yeah, that was probably my fault. I haven’t seen a replay, but I’m sure that was my fault.”
