DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (February 20, 2022) – NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Austin Cindric parked his Team Penske Ford on the frontstretch of Daytona International Speedway on Sunday evening in front of a sellout crowd. With over 130,000 onlookers, Cindric climbed out, ran to grab the checkered flag, and then planted it in the famed infield grass. The first thing the second-time 500 starter had to say after scoring his first win in the Cup Series?
“Oh, my God. Do you know what makes it all better? A packed house. A packed house at the Daytona 500.”
These are words coming from a former NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion that at one time was booed and then cheered by a grandstand full of fans in the same interview.
On this day, Cindric was poised and gleeful. Acknowledging the crowd on hand, thanking the many sponsors and supporters, and wishing car owner Roger Penske a happy birthday after taking the number 2 car to victory lane for the first time in “The Great American” race.
Cindric and teammate Ryan Blaney were quite the dynamic duo in this year’s 500. The pair stayed glued to each other throughout the event, up until the final lap, which took place during a green-white-checkered overtime finish. Blaney went high on Cindric, but his effort was successfully nullified by what FOX’s Clint Bowyer called a “massive block” by the rookie that sent Blaney up to the wall, sparking a finish line crossing crash behind him.
Cindric added the early implications of this win in the upcoming season.
“I’m surrounded by great people, that’s all there is to it. I know there’s going to be highs and lows, being a rookie. I’m just grateful for the opportunity and excited to climb the mountain ahead of us on the No. 2 team. We’re in the Playoffs—that’s one box checked. My gosh, what an awesome group of fans; what an awesome race car. I’m just really thankful.”
Bubba Wallace, who was a contender throughout the final stage, charged to a second place finish in his Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan owned Toyota.
“I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off 1, 2, 3 throughout the race, so we just had to survive,” said Wallace, who finished .260 seconds behind race winner Austin Dillon in the 2018 Daytona 500.
“Great Speedweeks, though. We’ll come home second. I’m going to be pissed off about this one for a while. I was happy on the first second place we got a couple years ago. This one sucks when you’re that close, but all-in-all, happy for our team, happy for our partners, and on to California.”
Results from the 64th Daytona 500:
| 1. | 2 | Austin Cindric |
| 2. | 23 | Bubba Wallace |
| 3. | 14 | Chase Briscoe |
| 4. | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
| 5. | 10 | Aric Almirola |
| 6. | 18 | Kyle Busch |
| 7. | 34 | Michael McDowell |
| 8. | 15 | David Ragan |
| 9. | 6 | Brad Keselowski |
| 10. | 9 | Chase Elliott |
| 11. | 42 | Ty Dillon |
| 12. | 16 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 13. | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 14. | 7 | Corey LaJoie |
| 15. | 77 | Landon Cassill |
| 16. | 17 | Chris Buescher |
| 17. | 51 | Cody Ware |
| 18. | 99 | Daniel Suarez |
| 19. | 45 | Kurt Busch |
| 20. | 41 | Cole Custer |
| 21. | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 22. | 27 | Jacques Villeneuve |
| 23. | 31 | Justin Haley |
| 24. | 48 | Alex Bowman |
| 25. | 3 | Austin Dillon |
| 26. | 50 | Kaz Grala |
| 27. | 78 | BJ McLeod |
| 28. | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 29. | 43 | Erik Jones |
| 30. | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 31. | 62 | Noah Gragson |
| 32. | 5 | Kyle Larson |
| 33. | 38 | Todd Gilliland |
| 34. | 20 | Christopher Bell |
| 35. | 8 | Tyler Reddick |
| 36. | 44 | Greg Biffle |
| 37. | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 38. | 24 | William Byron Jr. |
| 39. | 21 | Harrison Burton |
| 40. | 1 | Ross Chastain |
- By: Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining
- Photo: Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images