{"id":30812,"date":"2020-08-15T19:35:36","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T00:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=30812"},"modified":"2020-08-19T21:57:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T02:57:08","slug":"austin-cindric-makes-history-with-victory-at-daytona-road-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/15\/austin-cindric-makes-history-with-victory-at-daytona-road-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Cindric makes history with victory at Daytona Road Course"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Austin Cindric, driver of the #22 MoneyLion Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series UNOH 188 at Daytona International Speedway on August 15, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Austin Cindric\u2019s summer of dominance continued Saturday afternoon in the inaugural UNOH 188 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Austin Cindric, driver of the #22 MoneyLion Ford, crosses the finish line winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series UNOH 188 at Daytona International Speedway on August 15, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Cindric, 22, of Mooresville, N.C., earned his fifth victory in the last six races, his No. 22 Team Penske Ford pulling away to a hefty 7.108-second win over Brandon Jones\u2019s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. That impressive ultimate margin of victory, however, is not indicative of the action-packed debut on Daytona\u2019s famed road course.<\/p>\n

Noah Gragson recovered from an off-course excursion early in the race while leading the field to finish third and maintain a perfect record of top-10 finishes on every Xfinity Series road course event he\u2019s competed in. A.J. Allmendinger and Andy Lally \u2013 both road course experts \u2013 finished fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Clement, Sunoco rookies Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton, veteran Justin Allgaier and rookie Myatt Snider rounded out the top 10 in well-earned, masterful drives to the finish.<\/p>\n

Allgaier and Allmendinger had words on pit road after the race. Allmendinger spun Allgaier out of a top-five finish in the closing laps and was apologetic. Allgaier, one of the series-best road course racers, approached Allmendinger after the race and shared his displeasure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Austin Cindric, driver of the #22 MoneyLion Ford, drives during the NASCAR Xfinity Series UNOH 188 at Daytona International Speedway on August 15, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

With no practice or qualifying and most of the competitors in the race completely new to the 3.61-mile, 14-turn course, the race was a steady dose of high-speed how-do-you-do. From over-ambitious restarts to simply missing corners figuring out this brand-new competitive experience, there was action from green to checkered flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure anyone was really all that happy with their race cars you know, unfortunately I have the perspective of driving really fast race cars at this track,” said Cindric, who has competed in three Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship races on the road course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great credit to my team, MoneyLion and the guys. \u2026 That\u2019s five wins on the year obviously back-to-back now. I didn\u2019t feel like I drove my best today but we executed there at the end when it counts and that\u2019s what makes these races so difficult to win.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Austin Cindric, driver of the #22 MoneyLion Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series UNOH 188 at Daytona International Speedway on August 15, 2020 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Cindric, who led 22 of the 52 total laps, led the opening 16 laps of the race to earn the Stage 1 win and bookended the work by leading the last five laps to claim his seventh career Xfinity Series victory. His five wins (and a second place) in the last six races ties a record held by the legendary Sam Ard set back in 1983.<\/p>\n

His chief rival \u2013 as has been the case all season \u2013 was fellow Ford driver Chase Briscoe, who led a race best 26 laps on Saturday. Cindric and Briscoe put on a master class of road course dueling particularly in the second stage, with Briscoe, also a five-race winner in 2020, earning the green-and-white checkered flag in that sprint.<\/p>\n

Their battle – at times contentious – continued late in the race  until Briscoe was collected in a multi-car restart melee with eight laps remaining. Briscoe\u2019s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford suffered too much damage to continue and he was scored 29th \u2013 his worst finish of the year.<\/p>\n

Similarly, another two of the Xfinity Series championship contenders, Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Ross Chastain simultaneously suffered race-ending issues \u2013 Haley with an off-course excursion and Chastain, a mechanical issue. They finished 36th (Chastain) and 38th (Haley) \u2013 their worst finishes of the season as well.<\/p>\n

With seven races remaining to set the 12-driver NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff field, Cindric, Briscoe, Gragson, Jones, Burton and Haley have assured their chances at a title with victories.<\/p>\n

Brandon Brown, who suffered a tough 34th-place finish on Saturday, holds the final 12th place transfer position in the driver standings, but is only 28 points up on Saturday\u2019s sixth-place finisher Jeremy Clements in 13th.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Austin Cindric – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NXS_DaytonaRoadCourse_Cindric_081520.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brian Wilson – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NXS_DaytonaRoadCourse_Wilson_081520.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brandon Jones – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NXS_DaytonaRoadCourse_Jones_081520.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Noah Gragson – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NXS_DaytonaRoadCourse_Gragson_081520.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – UNOH 188<\/b><\/p>\n

Daytona International Speedway Road Course<\/b><\/p>\n

Daytona Beach, Florida<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, August 15, 2020<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (1)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 52.<\/p>\n

               2. (10)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               3. (3)  Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               4. (11)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               5. (6)  Andy Lally, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               6. (18)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               7. (15)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               8. (9)  Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               9. (17)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               10. (27)  Myatt Snider #, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               11. (8)  Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               12. (19)  Josh Bilicki, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               13. (22)  Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               14. (34)  Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               15. (7)  Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               16. (32)  Jade Buford, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               17. (26)  Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               18. (24)  Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               19. (30)  Scott Heckert, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               20. (33)  BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               21. (21)  Stephen Leicht, Toyota, 52.<\/p>\n

               22. (36)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               23. (31)  Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               24. (14)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               25. (20)  Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 52.<\/p>\n

               26. (25)  Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, 51.<\/p>\n

               27. (16)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 50.<\/p>\n

               28. (37)  Brandon Gdovic, Toyota, Accident, 47.<\/p>\n

               29. (2)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, Accident, 46.<\/p>\n

               30. (35)  Bobby Reuse, Toyota, 46.<\/p>\n

               31. (12)  Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, Accident, 45.<\/p>\n

               32. (28)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 43.<\/p>\n

               33. (29)  Earl Bamber, Chevrolet, Accident, 41.<\/p>\n

               34. (13)  Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Axle, 40.<\/p>\n

               35. (38)  Harold Crooms, Toyota, Brakes, 36.<\/p>\n

               36. (4)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 34.<\/p>\n

               37. (23)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, Accident, 14.<\/p>\n

               38. (5)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Suspension, 11.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  81.894 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 17 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory:  7.108 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  7 for 8 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  7 among 6 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   A. Cindric 1-16;N. Gragson 17;C. Briscoe 18-31;J. Bilicki 32;C. Briscoe 33-44;B. Currey(i) 45;B. Jones 46-47;A. Cindric 48-52.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Briscoe 2 times for 26 laps; Austin Cindric 2 times for 21 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 2 laps; Bayley Currey(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Noah Gragson 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Bilicki 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,9,07,18,21,7,98,68,1,02<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 98,22,20,16,02,36,21,19,7,18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Austin Cindric\u2019s summer of dominance continued Saturday afternoon in the inaugural UNOH 188 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. Cindric, 22, of Mooresville, N.C., earned his fifth victory in the last six races, his No. 22 Team Penske Ford […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":30818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[526,287,16,181],"class_list":["post-30812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-austin-cindric","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/NXS_DaytonaRoadCourse_Car_VL_081520-scaled-e1597891645392.jpg?fit=640%2C427","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-80Y","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30823,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30812\/revisions\/30823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}