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PRESS RELEASE - TEAM PENSKE CINDRIC SET TO DRIVE NO. 2 BEGINNING IN 2022 July 15, 2021 CINDRIC SET TO DRIVE NO. 2 BEGINNING IN 2022 Team Penske announced today that Austin Cindric, the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Champion and the current series points leader, will drive the famed No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series starting in 2022. This comes after Cindric was previously announced to transition to the Cup Series full-time next season driving the No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing. Concurrently, former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski will depart Team Penske at the end of the 2021 season to pursue other opportunities within the sport. “Austin is a champion and has proven his abilities both on and off the track.” said Roger Penske. “The Cup Series is a big step for any rookie but making this move now, in conjunction with the introduction of the new NextGen car, makes sense.  He has gained valuable experience this year competing in a handful of ra...

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 Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports broke the news this morning that NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion Austin Cindric is expected to attempt to qualify for the 2021 Daytona 500 under the Team Penske banner. According to the announcement, the car will be numbered 33 and is likely to include additional races for the young driver from Columbus, Ohio. It was announced earlier this year that Cindric would take over for Matt Dibenedetto in the #21 Ford Mustang in 2022 season as a full-time rookie.  No details on sponsorship were available at the time of the post. Miles Stanley will be the crew chief. 

  Phoenix, Arizona The NASCAR championship seasons have formally ended. After what felt like to many in the industry to be the longest season ever as in ran in conjunction with the Covid-19 epidemic, NASCAR managed to return to competition this summer before any major sport. Three winner-takes-all events were held last weekend at Phoenix and three historic champions were crowned. Sheldon Creed won the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Championship after rushing from 8th to 1st in NASCAR Overtime on Friday night. Our team covered the final laps of the event during our live Racing Refresh weekly production. This is his first championship in NASCAR, and second truck-based championship as he also is a past champion in Robby Gordon's truck circuit.  In the Xfinity Series, the winningest driver on the circuit was not the winner, as would be the case in the Cup Series. Chase Briscoe was not able to pull off the feel-good story by winning at Phoenix, instead his rival and fel...

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 For the second race of NASCAR's Saturday double header at Kansas, the NASCAR Xfinity Series kicked off their Round of 8.  Like the Truck and Cup series, this was the first opportunity for an Xfinity playoff driver to lock themselves into the Championship 4 at Phoenix.  The playoff drivers fought extremely hard under the lights to grab a championship opportunity.  The race overall was a bit dull, as there was not much action.  However, at the end of the night, one playoff contender did find himself with a golden ticket to the desert.   In Stage 1, Noah Gragson led the field to green with Austin Cindric to his outside.  It didn'tt take long for the action to intensify as Matt Mills got sideways bringing out the caution on lap 10.  This lined up the field again, and this time it was a wild restart.  Going into turn 1 there was a 4-wide battle for the lead between playoff drivers Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Brandon Jone...

          Road course racing has been a part of NASCAR for decades, but the upcoming 2021 season, it is more important than ever to be a good road course racer. There a a few drivers who stand out among the rest as the true road course ringers of NASCAR. Here's the Top 5 for Racing Refresh writers Justin Seger and Zachary Bell. Honorable Mention  Justin -  Clint Bowyer: Bowyer is never a bad pick for a road course event.  He has a win at Sonoma and has a solid average finish at both Watkins Glen and Sonoma. He barely misses the cut this time around.  Zach - Chase Briscoe: A guy that ford has significantly invested in, especially with his road racing. Combining that with his natural talent, Briscoe has won two road course racing in the Xfinity Series including the inaugural races at both the Charlotte Roval, and Indy Road Course. Briscoe having not competed in the Cup Series yet is what makes him my honorable mention, but were we to make this...

  After successfully competing to match his best career finish of second place for two consecutive weeks (Talladega finish was penalized), Matt Dibenedetto has announced with Wood Bros. Racing team a 1-year and final contract extension that will have him behind the wheel of the famed #21 Ford Mustang in 2021.  Team Penske manages the driver rotation for the Wood Bros. entry and was expected to have driver Austin Cindric in the #21 car for 2021 season, but Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern has reported that a last minute decision was changed to have Dibenedetto in the car instead.  It is unclear what 2022 and beyond hold for the the 29 year old from Grass Valley, California. His performance in each car he has raced has surpassed the expectations of the team, but he is still winless in a combined 276 Cup and Xfinity races. His performance indicates that he is poised to earn that elusive win.  Racing Refresh will have more coverage on his future, be sure to subscribe...

  Team Penske announced on Thursday morning that they have reached an agreement to extend the contract for driver Austin Cindric. They did not specify on the terms of the agreement, but noted that this will be a multi-year opportunity that puts Cindric in a Cup Series car for the 2022 season. The team announced he will replace Matt Dibenedetto as driver of the Wood Bros. Racing #21 Ford after 2021. The 21 year old driver from Mooresville has 7 wins in 95 career Xfinity series starts and is currently competing for his first Xfinity Championship. Austin's father Tim is currently president of the Roger Penske owned racing team.  Comments provided to the press by Team Penske are as follows. “As we continue to position our team for future success, it is important to make sure Austin continues his development in the Xfinity Series with Team Penske,” said Roger Penske. “Austin has made great strides in recent years and he has become a consistent winner and a true championship contend...

The Xfinity series continued their playoff battle last Saturday at the biggest wildcard of the season, Talladega.  The race was a good showing for the playoff drivers.  A slow start led into a chaotic finish with a playoff driver locking his spot into the round of 8.  The Xfinity series proved why Talladega is one of the most entertaining playoff tracks on the schedule. The race started out with a battle of teammates and manufacturers.  Pseudo teammates Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, and the only two Ford drivers in the field, started nose to tail on the inside line.  They went up against the JR Motorsports teammates of Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier.  Briscoe and Cindric proved to be the class of the field.  Briscoe led nearly the entirety of the Stage with Cindric pushing him.  Briscoe went on to win stage 1 and Cindric, Jones, Haley, Alfredo, Herbst, Sieg, H. Burton, Hemric, and Allgaier got stage points behind him.  There wasn't caut...

Last Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs began with a trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  This race was less memorable as a whole due to the lack of action.  Vegas holds as the precursor race to the wild cards of Talladega and the Charlotte Roval.  The Xfinity's best took the track and Chase Briscoe proved, once again, why he should be considered the championship favorite.   In Stage 1, Briscoe pulled out to an early lead over fellow Ford driver, Austin Cindric.  This didn't last long, however, as on lap 9 the #47 of Kyle Weatherman spun out on the front stretch due to a loss of steering.  This caution allowed the cars to line back up, and on the restart, Briscoe got jumped by Cindric, Chastain, and Gragson.  Briscoe was placed back in 4th until another caution came out on lap 19 for Austin Hill, winner of the Truck race the night before.  After another restart, Briscoe found himself back in 7th at one point, but fought his way back t...

     It's fair to say that 2020 will go down in history as one of the strangest years the world has ever seen.  NASCAR has been no exception to this.  So far this season, we've seen midweek races, no practice or qualifying, virtual racing events, a Bristol All Star Race and even the Daytona Road Course.  None of us could've imagined NASCAR would be where it is now when we dropped the green flag for the Daytona 500, yet here we are.  One of the most interesting aspects of NASCAR is what fans refer to as "Silly Season."  For those who are unaware of the term, silly season is the offseason trading of drivers in NASCAR.  Each year, silly season becomes a bigger and more entertaining part of the NASCAR season as a whole.  This year, however, what if the glass is too full?  What if certain drivers don't have a home for the 2021 season?  I'd like to look at the free agents left on the market and the potential for them to get a ride fo...

             The Xfinity Series playoffs are finally here. Arguably the most competitive NASCAR national series. Seven different drivers won a race in the regular season, and all seven have at least two wins. The Xfinity Series Round of 12 includes Las Vegas, Talladega, and the Charlotte Roval. The Round of 8 includes Kansas, Texas, and Martinsville. The Championship Round is a single round event at Phoenix.       Chase B ri scoe - 7 Wins (Las Vegas, Darlington, Homestead, Pocono, Indy Road Course, Dover, Bristol), 14 Top 5s, 18 Top 10s, Average Finish 7.6, + 48 Points. Zach :  The most dominant driver in the Xfinity Series enters the playoffs as one of the two favorites. He struggled by his standards this summer, but a rebound at Bristol has brought momentum back to the team. His points cushion, and performance this season makes him a virtual lock for Phoenix. Justin :  Briscoe comes into the playoffs as a championship fa...

       As the 2020 regular season for the NASCAR Xfinity Series drew to a close, we were treated with a solid race at the Last Great Colosseum.  The young Xfinity drivers never cease to put on a show, and Friday Night was no exception.  This is one of the few times this season fans have been in attendance at an Xfinity event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.  These fans were definitely treated to a Bristol classic and were certainly not disappointed.  While 11 of the 12 playoff drivers came into the race having already clinched a spot into the playoffs, the playoff drama did indeed add some excitement to the short track racing.  NASCAR decided to add in the PJ1 Traction Compound to the track which did enhance the racing product.  Fans have been extremely critical of the PJ1 at other tracks, but Bristol has seemed to be the exception.  The compound helped to provide multiple grooves of racing while still keeping that old scho...