WATCH: Daytona 500 Winner Austin Cindric Changes NASCAR Tradition for a Hilarious Reason

Whenever a driver wins the Daytona 500, he is immortalized on the race track. To be precise, he usually gets his handprints, footprints, and signature on a concrete block. Interestingly though, Austin Cindric opted to go barefoot, rather than use his shoes and possibly avoid washing them.

Apparently, the truth was that he did not own that many pairs of shoes. Since he was wearing a rather ‘nice’ pair of street shoes, he did not want to ruin them. Finally, Cindric’s concrete signature went off without a hitch. Without a doubt, the rookie driver was truly honored to be a part of NASCAR racing history.

With this win, he becomes just the second rookie driver to triumph after Trevor Bayne in 2011. In all honesty, it is a rarity to see a rookie driver win a race as iconic as this one. Admittedly, he got a scare when all of the wheels of the entire Penske and Roush Fenway Keselowski teams were investigated earlier that weekend.

Austin Cindric will be keen to build on this performance

From the very beginning, Cindric had pretty big shoes to fill when he took over the #2 seat from Brad Keselowski. Keselowski himself jumped ship to the Roush Fenway Racing team. The 2012 champion did go a step further though, in the wake of his move. This was when he bought a stake and re-branded the team, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

Coming back to Austin Cindric, replacing a driver of Keselowski’s caliber is no easy task. Yet, he seems to be fitting well within the Team Penske organization and proving his mettle. With this impressive win, he has effectively drawn first blood in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series title race. It will be fascinating to see how the season pans out in the wake of this win, which was unexpected, to say the least.

READ MORE: Austin Cindric’s Daytona 500 Picture Evokes Funny NASCAR Reactions and Memes