Austin Cindric has responded to Joey Logano’s angry outburst at Talladega Superspeedway, where the latter blamed his Penske teammate for costing him a stage win. Speaking on Kevin Harvick’s “Victory Lap” interview on Monday, April 28, Cindric admitted the team missed an opportunity but stressed that they will work through the issues behind closed doors.
The drama unfolded during Stage 2 of Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500. Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, and Bubba Wallace were all fighting for the stage win when Cindric made a move that blocked Logano’s run. As a result, Wallace, driving a Toyota, was able to take the stage victory. When the stage ended, Logano exploded over the team radio, unleashing a furious, expletive-filled rant directed at Cindric.
He accused his teammate of handing the stage win to Wallace and wasting a chance to keep it within Team Penske. Despite the harsh words, Austin Cindric responded calmly when asked about the situation this week. He admitted that the team had enough cars in position to win the stage, but didn’t capitalize.
“We had enough players in the equation,” Cindric noted. “As far as me and Josh (Berry) and Joey (Logano), all kind of lined up there, at least, in proximity, that you know we definitely left a stage win for one of our cars on the table there. And you know we’ll have meetings about where to be better and where to be honest with ourselves.” (9:15 onwards)
“I think my duty is to go into those meetings and give my own honest feedback on what I could do better. But yeah, in the heat of the moment, the emotions, whatever you want to call it, I think those are things that you like to keep in the family as much as you can, and sometimes that bleeds out. But all in all, I feel like we do a better job than most at organizing ourselves and maximizing opportunities,” he added.
Other drivers also reacted to Logano’s rant aimed at Cindric.
Denny Hamlin shares his two cents on Logano’s aggression against Austin Cindric
Even though Austin Cindric eventually went on to win the 188-lap race, the heated moment between him and teammate Joey Logano during Stage 2 caught a lot of attention, including from Denny Hamlin. On his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared his thoughts on the situation. He questioned why drivers from Team Penske, like Logano, seem to lose their cool so quickly.
Hamlin pointed out that while it’s understandable to be frustrated if a teammate directly helps a rival pass you, that wasn’t exactly the case here. Instead, Hamlin felt Logano overreacted by continuing to rant at Cindric. He said:
“What is it about these Penske guys that lose their minds? I mean, you just ripped Austin Cindric a new one… He (Joey Logano) was just going on and on, and it’s like, he thought it was just a given that he was going to win this thing if Cindric would have done his job properly… I don’t know, man, these guys, they got some wires crossed when they put that helmet on.”
Hamlin also defended Austin Cindric, noting that his focus was likely on avoiding an incident with his teammate, not just blocking him. According to Hamlin, racing decisions on a track like Talladega happen fast, and Cindric was probably doing what he thought was best at that moment.
Team Penske drivers will be back in racing action next Sunday, May 4, in the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 267-lap race is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm ET.
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Edited by Pratham K Sharma
