Austin Cindric perseveres in Supercars sprint race at Adelaide Grand Final

Over in Australia, Austin Cindric got his first taste of Supercars racing action in the sprint race as part of the Adelaide weekend. The Grand Final is coming up, and a Supercars champion will be crowned. What will the NASCAR driver learn ahead of the main event?

Tons of rain poured down on the Supercars field, making Austin Cindric’s job even more difficult. While NASCAR has recently raced in the rain with treaded tires, it isn’t often that we see a full race under those conditions. Cindric had to make it work, and he did.

Cindric ultimately finished P23 out of 25 drivers. He finished on the lead lap, and in a sprint, should finish on the lead lap. While he simply maintained his spot on the grid from the start, it was a solid first outing for Cindric. He avoided becoming a major story for the wrong reasons, and that is an accomplishment in itself.

Brodie Kostecki, the 2023 Supercars champion, was the winner of the Adelaide sprint. He earned a $50,000 payday and a nice trophy for himself. Chaz Mostert was able to chip into Broc Feeney’s points lead going into Saturday. This is going to be a very exciting final in the series.

“My first race was wet,” Austin Cindric said in a video for Tickford Racing. His usual goofy humor came out there.

“I think that’s kind of the extent of it. I didn’t finish last, but obviously, a lot going on. First standing start was also done in the rain. Conveniently, the guy in front of me decided to stall, so that got pretty involved.”

Austin Cindric ‘mildly satisfied’ with Supercars debut race

Overall, it was a standard day for Austin Cindric. He likely wishes he could have moved up more and had better conditions to really feel out his car and get the hang of the Mustang. But he will accept the result going into Saturday’s race.

“We still have two races left in the weekend. Today was a good day to really learn. I would say I’m mildly satisfied, but I want to keep improving.”

The Team Penske NASCAR driver is a respected road course racer here in America. But we know by now that these Supercars drivers are on another level. It also puts into perspective just how unreal it was that Shane van Gisbegen came over into NASCAR and did what he did in 2023 by winning his debut race in Chicago. No one in Supercars or NASCAR has been able to repeat that feat in the other series besides SVG.

Austin Cindric has more time to learn and feel his car. He will be looking to move up throughout the races on Saturday and Sunday.