Austin Cindric enters the Kansas weekend facing a 19-point deficit to the Round of 8 cutline. He only has two more opportunities to put himself in position to advance in the playoffs, but he isn't feeling desperate.
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In fact, it's quite the opposite for the Team Penske driver, who remains ready to take on the 1.5-mile track and then the Charlotte Roval the following week.
"I'm not getting ahead of my skis here at all, but I think from our standpoint you have to look at it realistically and think that we're gonna have to go out and have two of our best weeks of the year to go make this happen on points, but I think those are two tracks that we're capable of doing that," Cindric told media members on Wednesday.
"I'm excited for this weekend. It pumps me up. We've got nothing to lose and everything to go out and gain."
Cindric entered the playoffs saying that he wanted to essentially be invisible during the first two rounds. He wanted to just go about his business before ramping up the intensity in the Round of 8.
He hasn't fully achieved this goal for multiple reasons. An unexpected fire at Bristol Motor Speedway put him in danger of elimination, but he narrowly advanced over Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman.
Last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Cindric had the opportunity to secure some crucial points and set himself up for Kansas and the Roval. This did not happen.
The No. 2 team missed out on points in both stages before ultimately ending the day in 17th place and falling into a 19-point deficit. This marked a far cry from teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, who finished first and fourth, respectively. Josh Berry, a de facto teammate, finished second.
Blaney advanced to the Round of 8. Logano eliminated the points deficit he faced entering the Round of 12 and moved to 24 points above the cutline. Berry is no longer in the playoffs after his elimination at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"We got some damage and probably more than I thought as far as from a performance standpoint, kind of reviewing things looking at the car," Cindric said.
"The snorkel was pinched off, so that's power and the splitter was separated from the nose and that's downforce, so it was a pretty challenging stage 3 to come back up through the field after doing some repairs for that. I definitely see it as a missed opportunity to start the round off well and that's what we're gonna need to do."
Cindric is not on an island after New Hampshire. Multiple other playoff drivers had off days, which put them in deficits. Ross Chastain finished ninth but missed out on stage points. He left the track 12 points below the cutline.
Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace both finished outside the top 20 and dropped to 11th and 12th in the playoff standings. Reddick is 23 points below the cutline while Wallace is 27 points below.
All of these drivers will likely enter Kansas Speedway with some level of desperation. After all, if they can't score enough points at Kansas, they could fall into must-win territory heading to the elimination race at the Charlotte Roval.
Cindric's goal is to avoid this must-win situation by performing well in both remaining Round of 12 races.
"Us and many others like us have very few points or very similar points, so I think there are about six or seven guys that I'm on the same playing field with and I look at it and think I could be further ahead than I am, but that's how it went and that's what we've got," Cindric said. "We've got two races to keep going."
