Austin Cindric said Saturday that he will return to the Team Penske No. 2 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024.
Cindric confirmed his status for next season during an availability Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course, site of Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) in the Cup Series Playoffs.
RELATED: Key figures in Silly Season | Sunday’s starting lineup
Cindric is in his second full season of Cup Series competition with Roger Penske’s organization. The 25-year-old driver won the Daytona 500 as a rookie in 2022, clinching a postseason berth.
“I’m focused on next year big time,” Cindric told reporters at the Charlotte track. “With the changes that we made after the regular season and all that, yeah, pretty focused on hitting the ground running, using these next couple of weeks to really take advantage of that opportunity. Driving for Roger, driving the 2 car, that’s a big deal. That’s a big opportunity. I don’t see myself getting too many other opportunities like that in my racing career.”
Cindric missed this Cup Series Playoffs this year, and he currently ranks 23rd in the driver standings with a season-best finish of fifth place coming last week at Talladega Superspeedway. Team Penske and the affiliated Wood Brothers Racing group swapped crew chiefs at the end of the regular season, placing Brian Wilson on the No. 2 team’s pit box for the rest of the season and in 2024.
Before reaching NASCAR’s top division, Cindric collected 13 victories in the Xfinity Series — all with Wilson as his crew chief. He also has one Craftsman Truck Series win, driving for Brad Keselowski — the driver he replaced in the Penske-owned No. 2 ride.