No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 3rd
Race Finish: 19th
Stage 1 Finish: 15th
Stage 2 Finish: 21st
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 4th (-10 pts)
Race Rundown: Austin Cindric started third and finished 19th in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the Discount Tire Ford Mustang battled handing challenges throughout the race, but was able to survive and come back from a spin on lap 136. After the Discount Tire crew made repairs to his Ford Mustang following the slight wall contact, Cindric carried on in survival mode, eventually bringing his car home in one piece. He now sits fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, 10 points behind leader Kyle Larson.
Cindric’s Thoughts: “Obviously not an ideal day for our Discount Tire Ford. We really struggled being tight early in the race and lost a little bit of our track position. I felt like we were hanging tough in the top 15 and had a lot of potential to make the car a little bit better. We decided to go off strategy and keep scuffs on the car and unfortunately that played out and had us getting fenced for some position outside the top 20. Then we had a right-rear tire come apart and had to pit right before the yellow came out, which trapped us two down. Recovering for a top 20 is I guess a decent recovery, but not what we were wanting or hoping for today, but definitely learned a lot and hopefully it’s something we can carry forward.”
No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Race Stats:
Start: 11th
Race Finish: 36th
Stage 1 Finish: 7th
Stage 2 Finish: 36th
Laps Led: 10
Point Standings: 13th (-38)
Race Rundown: Ryan Blaney started sixth but saw a promising in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway afternoon derailed by a lap 104 incident with former teammate Brad Keselowski. Blaney was an innocent bystander in the No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang as Keselowski lost control of his car at the exit of turn 4, eventually sliding up into Blaney’s path and collecting him. Despite leading 10 laps and scoring four stage points in the first stage, the damage was too much to continue, forcing Blaney to retire from the event.
Blaney’s Thoughts: “The 6 spun out on his own right in front of me and I plowed into him. I’m not happy about anything and I don’t mean to be happy about anything when someone loses it right in front of you and ends our day. I won’t call it bad luck, but when someone just spins out in front of you and wipes you out, there’s nothing to be happy about. We had a pretty fast car and nothing to show for it.”
No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang – Joey Logano
Race Stats:
Start: 6th
Race Finish: 14th
Stage 1 Finish: 14th
Stage 2 Finish: 7th
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings: 3rd (-9)
Race Rundown: Joey Logano started fifth and finished 14th in Sunday afternoon’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Logano struggled in the early stages of the race with the handling of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang, but steady adjustments helped the car recover around the halfway point. An ill-timed caution flag lost the team a significant amount of track position late in the race and the deficit was too steep to overcome to challenge for a top-10 finish at the end.
Logano’s Thoughts: “We learned a little bit today as a race team. Still trying to get our hands around exactly what adjustments make what impacts with the Next Gen car. We had speed at times and then at other times sort of lost the handle a little bit.”
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