Austin Cindric ready for encore performance of  'Back Home Again In Indiana' this weekend

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Austin Cindric went to victory lane in the season-opening Daytona 500, it seemed a lock that the NASCAR Cup Series rookie would earn a playoff berth.

Fast forward five months, and there have been 14 different winners with five races remaining before the field is set. With names like Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski -- the last three all former Cup champions -- still winless in 2022, there’s a very realistic possibility there are 17 different winners and a driver with a win would miss the playoffs for the first time since the format was created in 2014.

“Those are obviously the possibilities and, yeah, a second win is absolutely the best way for any driver to ensure themselves a solid lock into the playoffs,” Cindric said when asked about the scenario of more first-time winners.

“If we can go out and win two races … that’s a job well done," Cindric said. "Obviously, regular season points don’t matter. They still count for the playoff points that you get once you start in the playoffs and I don’t want to start 30 points back to start the thing, so we’re still chasing after wins and playoff points, and the best way we can do that is to win races.”

Along with the Daytona win, Cindric has six top-10 results in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, with four of those coming recently in consecutive races at Sonoma, Nashville, Road America and Atlanta.

“Daytona certainly being the best day of my life – first Cup Series win, first race in the 2 car, probably nothing could go any better than how it did," Cindric said. "I would say everything (regarding the regular season) has been fairly par for the course in my opinion. There have been highs and there’s been lows.”

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the second go around on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course, the first time being last season's race there.

Cindric is no stranger to success when it comes to turning left and right, having five Xfinity Series wins on road courses, including last year’s race on the IMS Road Course. Not only does Cindric have a deep family history at Indianapolis, but his boss Roger Penske literally owns the place.

Is Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard a race the 23-year-old driver feels like he has to win?

“I think for who I drive for it is, next to the Daytona 500, the biggest race I could win," Cindric said. "Between the Daytona 500 and the championship race in Phoenix, Indy is absolutely one of the most important races I can win as a Team Penske driver, but it goes a lot deeper for me than just racing for Roger.

“My family’s history (his father, Tim, is president of Team Penske) and what I’ve been exposed to in racing all really circles back to Indianapolis, so it’s a pretty special track on the schedule. Do I think I have to win? No. Do I want to win? Absolutely. Do I want to do everything I can to make that happen? Absolutely.”

When Cindric won last year’s Xfinity race on the IMS Road Course, he serenaded his Penske crew on the radio by singing “Back Home Again in Indiana,” the song traditionally played prior to the Indianapolis 500.

Is he planning an encore performance of the iconic song if he gets that second Cup Series win on Sunday?

“I think you can count on it,” Cindric said with a grin.