Austin Cindric reacts to getting dumped, NASCAR playoffs elimination at Charlotte

Austin Cindric knew that when he was hit by Carson Hocevar during the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his chances of advancing were over. After the race, Hocevar talked about the incident with Hocevar and being eliminated from the playoffs.

“It’s such a long race here, like, in those moments, I didn’t feel like I was out of it,” Austin Cindric said, per Matt Weaver of Motorsport.com. “I just wanted to not put us in a situation where we’re completely out of it, just knowing the strategies were going to get super crazy with the super long run, having the [tire] falloff we had [Saturday], knowing how big the windows were.”

Cindric continued, “Just a shame we got hit so perfectly that KO’d all of my rear suspensions. Today wasn’t our entire season, but we made it that way due to not having a great round.”

The incident happened on Lap 32, when Hocevar had too much speed into Turn 16. Hocevar spun through the corner, contacted Cindric, and both drivers suffered damage. Cindric, who came into the race 48 points below the cut line, fell 22 laps down, which ended his playoff run.

Austin Cindric had a ‘tough’ playoff round

Cindric clinched a spot in the playoffs after winning the spring Talladega race. After advancing to the Round of 12, the 27-year-old finished 17th at New Hampshire, 30th at Kansas, and 36th at the Charlotte Roval.

“I mean, this round was definitely tough for us. I mean, never really feel like we even had the speed to get stage points in any of the races,” he said, per NASCAR.com. “But I also feel like I take a lot of that with having a qualifying lap each week that probably would have put me in the top 10 and slipping up and not being able to execute. I feel like I displayed some of my car control more than I displayed speed this round, so I feel like that falls on me.”

Cindric will now look to finish the season strong and help his two Penske teammates — Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano — make it to the championship race. Both drivers have made it to the Round of 8 and have won the last three championships. Blaney won it in 2023, and Logano won it in 2022 and last year.