Austin Cindric Impresses With Runner-Up Finish at Kansas

Of the Team Penske trio, Austin Cindric shined brightest in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. The driver of the No. 2 wheeled his way to a runner-up finish behind winner Kyle Larson, his best finish of the 2026 season and best result since his April 2025 Talladega win.

Cindric’s strong run pushed him up to ninth in the points standings. The 2022 Daytona 500 champion was stout all race long, finishing third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2.

His Penske teammates, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, finished fifth and 20th, respectively. While Blaney and Logano have largely outshined Cindric this season with a combined six wins, that was not the case in the Hollywood Casino 400.

Austin Cindric reflects on runner-up finish at Kansas

While it was an impressive showing for Cindric, he felt disappointment after the race knowing he came up just shy of a win.

If there was any weakness in Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Cindric believed it was navigating lap traffic. Once Larson and Chase Briscoe started battling for the lead in the late laps, Cindric believed that was his chance.

Unfortunately, there was too much ground to make up in a short amount of time. 

“I kinda knew that was going to be our opportunity. Obviously, the 19 [Briscoe] pounced and those guys went back-and-forth and that’s really what gave us a shot. We had the lap time and the pace but we were too far back after the pit cycle,” Cindric said when speaking to reporters after Kansas.

Cindric believed he had one of the stronger cars in the field throughout the 267 laps. Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, it was not enough to take the checkered flag.

“I thought we had one of the better long-run speed cars there at the end, which is great, because I didn’t think we had that most of the day. Kudos to the team but it sucks to come up that short,” Cindric said.

As it came down to the nitty gritty, Cindric would have jumped at the chance to pull off a slide job on Larson for the win, adding that he expected his car was capable of doing it.

“I would’ve loved a shot to do a slider for the win. I thought my car had it in it. I thought that was one of our strengths throughout the day. We weren’t quite the best on all pace but we were top 3 and I felt like I had some of the best versatility out there today,” Cindric said.

Cindric jumps to ninth in NASCAR Cup Series points standings

While no one was able to gain on points leader Kyle Larson, who earned maximum points on Sunday, Austin Cindric managed to move up positions. 

Cindric jumped from 11th in the standings to ninth with six races remaining in the Chase. The Ohio native’s best points finish previously was 11th in 2024.