{"id":14016,"date":"2017-11-17T08:44:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T14:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14016"},"modified":"2017-11-17T10:20:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T16:20:09","slug":"cindric-carries-memory-of-departed-heroes-with-him-into-championship-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/17\/cindric-carries-memory-of-departed-heroes-with-him-into-championship-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Cindric carries memory of departed heroes with him into Championship Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brant James, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Austin Cindric<\/strong> was precocious from the beginning of what would become a racing career.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Cindric, driver of the #19 Draw-Tite\/Reese Ford, celebrates his race victory as he prepares to place the winner’s sticker on his truck at Canadian Tire Mosport Park on September 3, 2017 in Bowmanville, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

First he had to talk his mother, Megan, and father, Tim, the president of Team Penske, into allowing him to race karts. Then he had to overcome each of the obstacles they intentionally placed before him to make sure he truly wanted it. He overcame each of them in turn.<\/p>\n

Cindric, 19, could become a precocious NASCAR champion if he betters the three other championship contenders \u2013 Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Christopher Bell \u2013 in Friday\u2019s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an interesting kid. He\u2019s very studied,\u201d Tim Cindric said. \u201cWhen he was growing up in Bandoleros and Legends and stuff, we wouldn\u2019t let him paint his helmet. The driving suits he had were very generic, not even name-brand stuff. I never felt like he needed to go in there like a Penske kid. He needed to go in there and be a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Cindric, driver of the #19 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford, sits in his truck during practice for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 16, 2017 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

He\u2019s a teenager with, as his father describes it \u201can old soul,\u201d not just in the way he has been able to become rapidly acquainted with — and successful in — a myriad of different race cars including Australian Super Cars, sports cars and the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series, but in the mature way he approaches a sobering side of the sport.<\/p>\n

The reminder is right there for all of the Cindrics to see, in the worn black rubber bracelet he\u2019s worn on his right wrist since October of 2011, the white lettering worn nearly illegible.<\/p>\n

\u201cDan Wheldon passed,\u201d Tim Cindric said of the IndyCar driver who perished in a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. \u201cAfter I got back from Dan\u2019s funeral – Dan wasn\u2019t somebody Austin really knew, he probably said \u2018hello\u2019 to him – at that service they had these little black rubber band things and they just said \u2018Remember\u2019 on them. I took it home and threw it on my vanity and Austin said \u2018Can I have that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Cindric, driver of the #19 Draw-Tite\/Reese Brands Ford, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 10, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhat are you going to do with it?,\u201d Tim Cindric countered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to wear it,\u201d Austin answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t really know Dan,\u201d Tim Cindric responded again. \u201cAnd he said \u2018Us race drivers, we all understand all this.\u2019 You do? It was a little deep for us. And he said, \u2018If anything ever happens to me doing this, you and mom just have to remember, this is what we do.\u2019 And he\u2019s never taken that thing off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Cindric describes the decision as \u201cjust part of my childhood\u201d but said the moment, involving a driver he said he idolized left a mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt my age, that was the first time that it happened that I could remember,\u201d he said during Championship 4 Media Day at the Loews Miami Beach, \u201cand I was watching the TV, watching the race, watching the championship fight and something like that happens. It’s pretty impactful, but it\u2019s part of the sport, part of what we do and race cars are pretty safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Cindric, driver of the #19 Draw-Tite\/Reese Ford, celebrates his race victory at Victory Lane at Canadian Tire Mosport Park on September 3, 2017 in Bowmanville, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It wasn\u2019t the first time that Cindric had surprised his parents not only with his attitude toward the sport, but a connection he\u2019d made with a late driver he\u2019d never met. The previous instance hit even closer to the Cindric home as it involved Greg Moore, who had signed to drive for Team Penske in 2000 but died at age 24 in an October, 1999 CART crash at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg Moore\u2019s father, Rick, had sent me Greg\u2019s Marlboro helmet. There were only a couple,\u201d Tim Cindric said. \u201cAfter he passed away, we\u2019d had some made for the test he was going to do and it sits in my basement. Austin obviously sees it all the time, but Austin didn\u2019t know Greg. He was one when that happened. [Austin] said \u2018If I ever get my helmet painted, I\u2019d like to paint it like Greg\u2019s.\u2019 He was ten or eleven at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Austin, you can\u2019t just paint a helmet like somebody else\u2019s without permission.\u2019 I said, \u2018If you really want to pursue that, first of all \u2026., why?\u2019 He says, \u2018Well, I think he\u2019s very similar to myself. I think Greg and I would have gotten along really well.\u2019 I said, \u2018You never met Greg. What do you know about Greg?\u2019 He said, \u2018Well, on the Internet I\u2019ve watched videos, I\u2019ve read his book.\u2019 And he went on to tell me more about Greg than I knew about Greg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Cindric, driver of the #19 Draw-Tite\/Reese Ford, celebrates the pole award at the end of qualifying at Canadian Tire Mosport Park on September 2, 2017 in Bowmanville, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

With \u201cthat box checked,\u201d Tim Cindric said, he allowed his son to contact Rick Moore, who enthusiastically agreed, telling helmet design Troy Lee that the boy could have access to any designs he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever he wanted, relative to Greg, it was his,\u201d Tim Cindric said. \u201cRick sent him an autographed Greg Moore hero card from every year Greg drove, which I thought was really cool. Greg used to put a little space ship guy, a little Troy Lee icon thing on the back of his helmet. He sent him a pile of those to put on his dash and on his helmets, so he\u2019s always done that to each of his helmets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cindric\u2019s Brad Keselowski Racing is ceasing operations at the end of the season and the driver has no announced plans for 2018. The Bowmanville winner has a breadth of experience, but said he has \u201ccommitted\u201d himself to NASCAR. Cindric earned his spot in the final amid controversy at Phoenix Raceway, as he made contact with and spun Ben Rhodes in the waning laps, costing Rhodes a chance to run for a title. Cindric said he attempted to reach Rhodes this week but that his call went directly to voicemail. The pair have raced together since childhood and are friends, he said.<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell – <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Johnny Sauter – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MediaDay_NCWTS_Johnny_Sauter_111617.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austin Cindric – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/NCWTS_Champ4_Cindric_111617.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brant James, NASCAR Wire Service MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Austin Cindric was precocious from the beginning of what would become a racing career. First he had to talk his mother, Megan, and father, Tim, the president of Team Penske, into allowing him to race karts. Then he had to overcome each of the obstacles they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14019,"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":[526,16,160],"class_list":["post-14016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-austin-cindric","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-camping-world-truck-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/CTMP-NCWTS-Cindric-WinnerSticker-090317.jpg?fit=5343%2C3627&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3E4","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14016"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14058,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14016\/revisions\/14058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}