Denny Hamlin: Austin Cindric's Gateway win bought him some time at Team Penske

Denny Hamlin believes Austin Cindric’s win at the Enjoy Illinois 300 was big for him in terms of his NASCAR future. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin was asked if Cindric’s win puts him in a good position with Team Penske.

“It certainly buys you more time,” Hamlin said. “Of all the hot seats and driver bingo that’s gonna go on over the amount of time, more was made about the 21 car than the 2 car. But I would say they’ve been close to equally disappointing. The 2 car was championship contenders for decades. They just have not run well over these last few years.

“…It buys you time, but you can only sell the dream for so long. You gotta live it eventually, and he lived it this weekend, which certainly is gonna be beneficial. Austin is a great guy. Really happy for him. He is part of the organization while they’re not at their peak.”

Cindric has been with Team Penske since 2017 as an Xfinity Series driver. He began racing as a full-time Cup Series driver in 2022 and won the Daytona 500 that year which qualified him for the playoffs. Cindric finished 12th in the Cup Standings that year and had a disappointing 2023 as he did not win a race and missed out on the playoffs.

Austin Cindric talks Team Penske having a huge day at Gateway

Along with Cindric winning, the other two Team Penske cars (Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano) ran in the top five for the majority of the race. “Super critical for us,” Cindric told reporters after the race. “I mean, obviously RFK has definitely showed speed from the Ford side, been able to prove that we can run up front and win in this package. There’s a lot of conversation about different OEMs, this and that. That’s definitely something we look at as a race team to try and improve and get better.

“Barely being able to run top 10 with one car at Charlotte after winning the year before, Joey and I, best we could do is 14th and 20th. That’s last week, the last thing in our head. Easy to get down on, but this team has an incredible ability to be consistent, whether if it’s at the Indy 500 or this weekend at Gateway. Having incredibly consistent pace between all of our cars, all through the get-go.