Cindric Earns High Praise From Hamlin For Superspeedway Skill Set

It’s not often compliments are handed out between fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

With high-stakes competition and an often-selfish mindset to win races for themselves and their team, those kind words are few and far between.

However, Austin Cindric received high praise from one of NASCAR’s top drivers — Denny Hamlin.

On Hamlin’s podcast, Actions Detrimental, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota spoke about Cindric’s precise moves on drafting tracks, including last week’s Daytona 500.

“Let’s speak realistically,” Hamlin began. “Is this probably one of Cindric’s best chances to win this year? Yeah. But do you see him making erratic, crazy blocks? No.

“I think that’s why, I said on this podcast last week if I didn’t win, who would I think was gonna win? Austin Cindric. You can see that he is on another level mentally. But, Austin Cindric is just a guy I felt very confident in racing for the win against.

“Not that I was going to get the best of him, but it was like, ‘Oh I’m gonna have a fair race here.’

“He knows what he’s doing, I know what I’m doing, this is going to be a good show.”

Hamlin and Cindric were racing head-to-head for the lead on the final lap of the Great American Race at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway until a crash triggered by Cole Custer ended both drivers’ chances of winning.

When asked about Hamlin’s compliment on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Cindric described it as “special.”

“For me, it is a very high compliment,” Cindric said. “It is not often times you get to earn the respect but also hear the level of respect your competitors have for you. As superspeedway racing goes, Denny has been one of the best for the last couple of decades.

“For him to have a high opinion like that is pretty cool. I think that is what made the end of the race significant and special to me.”

The driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford finished eighth last week as he heads to Atlanta eying his third career victory.

With such high praise from a three-time Daytona 500 winner such as Hamlin, what makes Cindric so good on superspeedway race tracks?

He claims its a mixture of a stout race car and preparation.

“I think I could plead the Fifth and just just say that I have a fast race car every time; because I do,” Cindric said. “I feel confident that we can contend for the pole today and contend for the win tomorrow. But I think they are all different. I think if you expect yourself to contend every time we go to a drafting track, I feel like you have to prepare.

“The process I have refined for myself over the years is very solid. I don’t know if it is the best or not, hard to say, but I put a lot of work in. Usually those are the types of tracks that require that type of work.”

Cindric qualified second on Saturday as teammate Ryan Blaney notched the pole for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400.