Austin Cindric disagrees with the cup champion Joey Logano’s remarks that the Rookie of the year would have struggled more ‘driving last year’s car.’
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Austin Cindric and Joey Logano
The 2022 season was arguably the best year in Team Penske Racing’s history. Joey Logano secured their second cup championship in 4 years, while Will Power secured them the 2022 IndyCar championship. The Ford team also secured the cup rookie of the year award thanks to No:2 Mustang driver Austin Cindric.
The champion, Joey Logano, was one of the most consistent and dominant drivers of the 2022 season. The veteran guided the Penske rookie by example. Cindric’s only win came in the season opener Daytona 500, making him the first race winner of the 7th gen car era. He failed to replicate the result in 35 races since. He was a top 10 contender in most of the races he ran.
The 2022 season was deemed the best season for a rookie to start as the experienced drivers had to go through a similar phase of learning about the Next-Gen car as the youngsters. But the champion and rookie of the year disagree on this. Logano believes the 2021 season would have been harsher for the rookies.
“Something I was told that I don’t think is true is that 2022 is the best year to be a rookie in the Cup Series. I say this, and I’ve had a good year, some would say a great year. I’ve had a very productive season. And Joey [Logano] and I disagree because Joey thinks if I had come and driven last year’s car, I would have struggled a lot more than I did this year,” Austin Cindric said.
Austin Cindric explains why he disagrees with the champion
Cindric pointed out that since he drove part-time last year, he understands the difference in toughness. He went on to list the constraints that came up with the introduction of the Next-Gen car. He pointed out that it has been a learning curve for everyone throughout the season, as even the veterans of the sport had limited wisdom to share.
“Well, I drove last year’s car last year, so I feel like I have a gauge on that. And although the playing field in some sense is level, I am not able to consult my teammates or team or anyone about the right or wrong way to do something because this year, no one knew what it was because we learned at a fast pace and it’s very easy to lead the team in the wrong direction,” Austin Cindric said.
Austin Cindric added that the Nex-Gen car demanded open-mindedness and creativity from the drivers as the similar chassis exposed their flows. He argued though not having a reference point view made the season hard.
“There is nowhere to hide in 2022 Cup racing when everyone has the same chassis. If you’re bad, you are bad. I‘ve had to pull from a lot of notebooks and be creative and open-minded, and I wouldn’t say it’s the hardest season to be a rookie, but I think not having any baseline or reference point of how you’re doing or how to get better is really challenging,” Austin Cindric added.
Also read: “I was terrible,” Cup series Rookie of the year Austin Cindric reveals his worst race of the season
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Justin P Joy
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