When NASCAR fans came to Talladega, they expected some big things to happen, especially with wrecks. Who can forget the 28-car pileup from last season’s visit to the track? Instead, things were relatively cool, and Roger Penske’s man, Austin Cindric, delivered a masterclass and a photo finish across the line. But it wasn’t just a race win. You see, Cindric might have just saved Team Penske.

After creating a record-breaking season in 2024, where they had 48 wins across NASCAR, IndyCar, and IMSA in one single season, the organization is now caught up in an unfortunate drought.

Winless droughts, shaky executions, and headlines dominated, not by superiority or predominance, but disqualification, DNFs, and interpersonal rifts paint an image of what it was in one of the flagship teams in the sports context, a not-so-familiar year and a year not so kind at that.

At Talladega, the last-lap madness is usual, but Austin Cindric broke through and got his first win since 2022 and survived the carnage to win in a thrilling three-wide finish. The chaos opened a huge opportunity, and Cindric did not waste it. The win wasn’t just to bring home another trophy, it was a lifeline for the Penske team that could use a life raft from the rising tide of surrounding frustrations. With top contenders dropped and others just missing the mark, Cindric’s No. 2 Ford sliced through the noise to finally deliver something worth celebrating.

But the road to that celebration was strewn with wreckage, both literal and emotional. Cindric himself admitted the toll of the season upon him. And after the race, when Kevin Harvick asked him what that emotional barrage he witnessed in Victory Lane was all about, he opened up. “Winning at the Cup Series level is so difficult,” Cindric said. “And I don’t know if it’s ever been more difficult. The competitive nature of this series right now is at an all-time high. You have to define success in a lot of days… a lot of that’s living inside your own head and believing in the process. And it’s it’s exceptionally difficult to differentiate yourself. And you know, yes, effort does equal results.We say that all the time here at Team Penske, but you know, it’s, it’s, it can be frustrating, it can be draining, it can be, it can be a lot of times to, to, to manage your own expectations.“

Cindric has seen victory for the first time in 30 races now. In between, the floor has fallen under Penske. Two-time champion Joey Logano was disqualified in Talladega because of violations found regarding the rear spoiler on their Ford Mustang Dark Horse cars. He wasn’t happy with Cindric, though, after the driver’s choices meant Bubba Wallace took the stage win. He ranted, “Way to go, Austin. Way to go you dumb f—. Way to f—ing go. What a stupid s—. God! He just gave it to him. Gave it to him. Gave a Toyota the stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What the f—.” 

On the other hand, teammate Ryan Blaney was forced to accept a painful moment when Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch’s cars came together and Blaney got caught in the action. The damage meant he was out of the race. After the race, he said, “Oh gosh, man, another DNF. It just sucks. Just when we were kind of getting our momentum and didn’t even get to race today. We’ll just move on to Texas.” However, his pain was clear. Filling Dale Earnhardt Jr. in on the action, Blaney’s four words summed up his day. “I didn’t have fun,” he said.

While the win in Talladega gave the team momentary relief, questions still linger. Would this win be the catalyst that would spark the turnaround, or is it just putting a bandage on a deeper wound? The roster never grows easy, and the competition is even tighter. Cindric now has a lot of pressure on him with Dover and Kansas approaching.

The only focus for Cindric remains one-dimensional. “There’s no other dimension to me other than race car driver,” he said. “I care so much about what I do… I don’t think about anything else. That’s an unbalanced life in a lot of ways, but it’s all I want to do right now.“

With that running hot and set even higher, up may now be even Roger Penske’s youngest Cup driver, but perhaps steadiest of them all. In this volatile season, however, one thing is certain: there is pressure all the way.

Austin Cindric figures out the winning formula for Team Penske

Things clearly aren’t going well for Team Penske all across the board. Their IndyCar team has gone winless in the first three races. In NASCAR, despite having two champions in their team, and given that Logano won the 2024 Cup Series championship, they’re struggling to find any consistency. But have we seen this film before? Last year, Logano’s first win came back in May, at the All-Star race. Perhaps he can get it sooner, especially if he can adopt Cindric’s winning formula.

Following the race, Austin Cindric’s crew chief, Brian Wilson, went on to say, “He’s the type of guy that he takes all information in, he really retains it, he wants to study it. I think the type of driver he is really fits the way that Team Penske operates. We’re data-driven really. We love to provide things for him to be able to study. I think he’s really done a great job applying it.”

With Würth 400 at the Texas Motor Speedway next, Logano and Blaney have their work cut out for them. Cindric is already in the playoffs, and if the other two Penske drivers want to make it in, a win is the only way.