Track: Talladega Superspeedway
Race: MoneyLion 300
Date: April 27, 2019
No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 17th
Stage 1: 3rd
Stage 2: 11th
Finish: 5th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 113/113
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (behind first): 3rd (-74)
Notes:
- Austin Cindric and the No. 22 MoneyLion team put together another solid race Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway and were rewarded with a fifth-place finish. His fourth top-five of the season and his first in two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Talladega. Cindric moved up to third in the series driver standings, a gain of one position, and is now 74 points behind the leader, Tyler Reddick.
- Cindric started the MoneyLion 300 17th and steadily worked his way to the front during the opening laps of the 300-mile event. He was up to 10th position before the first caution fell on lap 8. The race went green on lap 11 and Cindric worked the draft to move up to third position when Stage 1 concluded on lap 25. He pitted for four tires and adjustments during the stage caution and restarted seventh on lap 31.
- As Stage 2 progressed, the field fell into single-file formation with Cindric seventh in line. He maintained the position until the field began to jockey for position one lap from the conclusion of the segment. The shuffle wasn’t kind to Cindric, who fell to 11th when the stage concluded on lap 50. Crew chief Brian Wilson called the driver of the MoneyLion Ford down pit road for service on lap 53 for right-side tires. Cindric restart eighth when the final stage began on lap 55.
- Cindric got shuffled back to 16th position on the restart but quickly recovered. He had climbed up to seventh when the fourth caution waved on lap 67. The driver of the MoneyLion Ford pitted one lap later for fuel-only and lined up fifth for the restart on lap 71.
- He remained inside the top-10 for the remainder of the race and was in contention for the win as the race neared conclusion. He was third at the time of the eighth caution (and 14-minute red flag for track cleanup) on lap 110, three laps from the checkered flag.
- The MoneyLion 300 was restarted with two laps remaining. Cindric was shuffled out of line on the restart but recovered over the final miles to grab fifth-place at the finish.
Quote:
"Congrats to Tyler and those guys on winning the Dash 4 Cash. I am glad I was able to do my part and give him the push on the restart. The bottom lane fizzled out pretty hard there and I was side drafting for the life of me to try to do damage control at that point. To come away with a top-five is a good day in the MoneyLion 300. I wish I would have been able to win it for those guys. They have a lot of people here supporting me and rooting for Joey tomorrow in the Cup race."