Track: Iowa Speedway
Race: Iowa 250
Date: June 17, 2018
No. 22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 1st
Stage 1: 2nd
Stage 2: 5th
Finish: 11th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 250/250
Laps Led: 58
Owner Point Standings (behind first): 2nd (-14)
Notes:
- Austin Cindric qualified on the pole position for Sunday's NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS( Iowa 250 at Iowa Speedway, his first pole position earned through time trials. Cindric did start first at Road America in 2017 after qualifying was rained out and the field was set by points.
- Cindric set a strong pace throughout most of the first, 60-lap stage but surrendered the lead to eventual race winner, Justin Allgaier, after leading 58 laps.
- At the end of the first stage, Cindric radioed to crew chief Brian Wilson that he was a bit tight in the center of the corners and had lost forward drive throughout the stage. Wilson elected to make a slight air pressure adjustment, in addition to changing four tires and filling the Ford up with fuel.
- Cindric began the second, 60-lap stage from second position, but dropped several spots over the initial laps back green before settling into fifth, where he would finish the stage.
- After another pit stop for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, Cindric restarted the final, 130-lap stage from the fifth position and would race just outside the top five until a lap 199 caution gave him a chance to bring his Ford down pit road from the sixth position for the final pit stop of the day. A great four-tire pit stop by the Fitzgerald crew got Cindric out in the third position.
- Unfortunately, the No. 22 Ford was ill-handling on the new tires as Cindric radioed that he had no rear grip. As a result, the NXS rookie dropped back through the field, eventually settling in the 12th position before finishing 11th in the race.
- The No. 22 Ford team remains second in the NXS Owner Point Standing with the result.
Quote:
"I am definitely disappointed to finish 11th when we had such a strong Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang throughout most of the race. We put new tires on during the last pit stop – which was a great stop by the pit crew – and it was just not the same car. I've never really had a car to do that with just four new tires, so we will go back and figure out if there was anything wrong. But to run strong all day and gather a lot of stage points made for a decent day."