Austin Cindric breaks down Bristol approach sitting on NASCAR playoff cutline

Austin Cindric is far from safe heading into Saturday’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway. He currently occupies the 12th and final advance spot, +11 above the cutline.

How is Cindric approaching the next NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Bristol? The focus, he said, is running well and avoiding any issues — easier said than done at “The Last Great Colosseum.”

“I think it’s like any other week for us because we do have to go out and run well and have no issues, that’s for sure. And that’s the best way you can control your destiny,” Cindric said on Monday’s Door Bumper Clear podcast. “There are a lot of things out of your control, especially from a tire standpoint. No one’s run this right-side tire. Apparently, five degrees of ambient temp changes everything. I woke up this morning and saw 58 in the forecast, took out the hoodie and knew this isn’t good. So, it should be an interesting weekend, no doubt.

“I do love Bristol. … Bristol is hard on the cars, too. I don’t think there’s been too many events, even when we had normal tire fall off, that there haven’t been right-side failures and things of that nature or even steering rack failures, guys losing power steering and things like that. Bristol’s a really tough track on cars, but if somebody else has a problem, it’s very easy to get wiped out in front of the mess. It’s not a very warm and fuzzy place to go out and do it but have to go out there and earn it.”

Austin Cindric uncertain about new tire at Bristol

Goodyear, NASCAR’s tire supplier, is bringing a new tire to Bristol this weekend. It’s anyone’s guess how it will perform over the course of 500 laps. Goodyear struck gold in the spring 2024 race, which saw 54 lead changes and 3,589 total passes under green flag conditions.

Goodyear has failed to replicate it in the last two Bristol races. So, enter a new tire intended to create better racing. How this tire reacts is out of Cindric’s control. The only thing he can worry about is staying out of trouble and doing whatever he can to stay above the cutline.

While he loves Bristol, it hasn’t loved him back. Cindric hasn’t finished inside the top 10 in five starts at Bristol. He may need one on Saturday if he wants to advance to the Round of 12.