Austin Cindric getting Supercars tips from Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin

While the NASCAR Cup Series season is over, Austin Cindric is learning his way around a Gen3 Supercars Mustang. Cindric is participating in the season finale at Adelaide at the end of the month. Ahead of his Supercars debut, Scott McLaughlin has been a big help.

Scott McLaughlin is now a Team Penske IndyCar star. He’s 32 years old and possibly a future IndyCar champion. Hailing from New Zealand, like NASCAR’s Shane van Gisbergen, McLaughlin is also a three-time champion in Supercars.

Having someone like Scotty Mac in your ear is nice. Austin Cindric is likely getting a wealth of knowledge that many in Supercars wish they could have ahead of the season’s final race weekend.

V8 Sleuth in Australia picked up on the Cindric-McLaughlin connection with the NASCAR driver being in the country to test the Supercars Mustang. Any little bit will help Cindric in his debut this month.

“He has texted me every single day,” Cindric said, via Connor O’Brien of V8 Sleuth. “I think he is as excited about this as much as I am. He has been really cool, I’ve quizzed him a ton on Adelaide… He’s like, ‘Man, I’m going to stay up and watch the race, text me after every session. If they let you send me data, send me data, I want to help as much as I can.’ That’s been really cool. Scott is a great teammate, he’s a great mate. He’s a good dude.”

This isn’t the first time that Austin Cindric has tested out Supercars before. He had previously gone down to Australia to test and, at one point, could have ventured to the series for a few years to develop his talents. Ultimately, he landed in NASCAR, of course.

Of course, van Gisbergen has come to NASCAR and put Supercars on the map in the United States. He isn’t he first Supercars/NASCAR crossover, but he is by far the most successful to ever do it to his point. Can Cindric flip the script and show SVG’s old peers what Cup Series drivers can do?

Does Austin Cindric get his road course credentials back?

When Austin Cindric was coming up through the ranks, he was considered a road course racer, or at least, it was a strength of his. Of course, the Next Gen has made the field even closer than before, and an emphasis on road courses among the Cup Series field has increased the competition on Sundays.

But, go back to Cindric’s time in the O’Reilly Series, his IMSA starts, and even his participation in the Bathurst 12 Hour race in 2015 in Australia – his background came from lefts and rights. Of course, he completed a full season of Rallycross in the GRC Lites, winning four races and finishing runner-up in the championship standings.

When you look at his Cup Series races, he’s been good at some tracks, but struggled at others. COTA has been a good track for him before. He had two top-10s there in 2022 and 2023. His last two finishes were P18 and P25, though. Cindric didn’t have a single top-10 on a road course this season.

The Supercars race is a bigger deal than it may seem for Austin Cindric. Can he get some of that road course reputation back with a good result at Adelaide? I sure think so, and it could help him build momentum for the 2026 season.