NASCAR insider shares Austin Cindric Team Penske exit verdict

A NASCAR insider believes that Austin Cindric will remain a Team Penske driver next season despite the current speculation over his future with the team.

Interestingly, that speculation was sparked by an incident in IndyCar, when the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power failed technical inspection ahead of qualifying last weekend.

The incident has opened up an entire 'cheating' saga, and Roger Penske took swift action, firing three senior figures within Team Penske's IndyCar leadership.

One of those fired was Team President Tim Cindric, Austin's father, leaving fans on social media to speculate that the driver of the No. 2 could soon follow his father out the door.

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Will Austin Cindric leave Team Penske?

Now, The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi has offered his thoughts on the matter when making an appearance on the Door Bumper Clear podcast.

Bianchi believes Cindric will remain at Penske and is the perfect team-mate for the likes of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

“I will say this. Austin Cindric has term left on his deal with Penske,” Bianchi explained.

“And if you look at the numbers and you look at the results, Austin’s delivering. This isn’t like, ‘Oh, he’s my kid, I’m gonna put him in a ride.’ He deserves it.”

Bianchi continued: “His stat line is very similar to Joey Logano’s this year. He’s led more laps than Ryan Blaney this year. He’s in the playoffs.”

“Austin has had a very, very good year. He’s good for that organization, he’s a good team player.

“For an organization that has two very high-profile drivers in Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, who’ve won championships, Austin is a great team-mate to have in that situation.

“I don’t see Austin going anywhere.”

So far in 2025, Austin Cindric has one race victory to his name at Talladega, which indeed makes him eligible for a spot in the playoffs.

However, the rest of his season has been more mixed, with only two other finishes inside the top 10 at Daytona (8th) and Las Vegas (6th).

In fact, over the last six races, Cindric has finished inside the top 10 on just one occasion, which was when he won at Talladega last month.

Whilst his performances may be on par with Logano's, Logano himself has been criticized at times this season for underperforming, so both must surely improve, particularly Cindric, who certainly has a lot more to prove than his three-time championship-winning team-mate at this stage of their careers.

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