Austin Cindric

Austin Louis Cindric was born on September 2, 1998, in the USA and grew up in North Carolina, where he collected his first racing miles not in a kart, but in semi-professional Legends and Bandolero cars. After attending Skip Barber Racing School to prepare for open-wheel racing, he switched to the US F2000 National Championship in 2013, initially for Andretti Autosport, and a year later for Pabst Racing Services. In parallel, he demonstrated his talent in sports car racing, including a class victory in a Porsche 944 in Historic Sportscar Racing.

His rise through the junior series was broad-based: in 2014, Cindric competed in the Global RallyCross Lites Championship and earned bronze at his debut, the X Games Austin. That same year, he was accepted into the Porsche North American Junior Academy and made his debut in the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. In 2015, he competed as the youngest participant to date at Bathurst 12 Hour and, at just 17 years old, became the youngest race winner in CTSCC history with victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Via ARCA and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, in which he finished third in the championship standings in 2017, he eventually found his way to the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Cindric collected his greatest career successes in stock car racing. In 2020, driving the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, he won both the regular season championship and the NASCAR Xfinity Series title. In his first full Cup Series season in 2022, his biggest achievement followed: victory at the Daytona 500, along with the Rookie of the Year award. Other highlights included success at the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway in 2024, victory at the Jack Link’s 500 in Talladega, and the Duel at Daytona success in 2025. He remained active in sports car racing and briefly took over the cockpit of the Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2024 after Ben Barker was injured.

In the 2026 season, Austin Cindric remains a full-time driver for Team Penske and continues to pilot the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series. Following his successes at Talladega and Daytona in recent years, focus now turns to confirming consistency at the front and taking the next step toward the championship. For the Ford driver from North Carolina, who found his way to NASCAR via Legends cars, rallycross, and sports cars, the versatility of his early career remains a constant source of support.