This past Sunday was a big day for a rookie racecar driver from the Charlotte area. At 23, Austin Cindric is the second youngest person ever to win the Daytona 500.
Cindric could be heard shouting, 'holy cow, holy crap' as he won.
He joined Morning Edition host Marshall Terry to talk about that win.
Marshall Terry: Congratulations. It's been a few days now since the race. So are you still on cloud nine or have you come back down to Earth yet?
Austin Cindric: Yeah, definitely trying to get my feet back down on the ground. But what an amazing experience. Talk about the race itself and having a packed house and being able to be part of, you know, over time, restart and put ourselves in a position to win the biggest race of them all. So it's an awesome opportunity. Awesome experience.
Terry: Now I understand that even though you come from a racing family, they were somewhat reluctant for you to become a driver just because they know how difficult that can be. So I'm curious, what's the first thing your family said to you after you won on Sunday?
Cindric: Yeah, I mean, obviously as a kid, there's a lot of different decisions with my life. I can take from there and don't have to make anything overly critical. But, you know, I always wanted to be a driver and my parents have always been supportive, but definitely clear that it's not their idea or their desire or their dream for me to do so, but just really cool to have both my mom and my dad there and be able to share that moment together. They've put everything into to what I do, and it's just it's pretty awesome when it all comes together.
Terry: Do you remember specifically what they said to you, the first thing they said after the race,
Cindric: Specifically, no. Just a lot of hugs.
Terry: Of course, of course. Now, even though you grew up around racing, it wasn't until you moved to Mooresville that you got interested in stock car racing specifically. Was there something about being so close to the race car community here in the Charlotte area that led you down that path?
Cindric: I do think so. You know, when I lived in Redding, Pennsylvania, you know, we were the only IndyCar team, you know. If I wanted to go see what a race car looked like, you know, I would go the race shop with my dad one day when I was a kid. But, you know, when you live in the Charlotte area, you know, you're exposed to it everywhere. You can't pass somebody who's not wearing a race team shirt when you're going out to lunch or whatever else. So you're pretty much permanently exposed to it then and I think definitely increased the love and probably made the bug a little stronger as well.
Terry: Now you went to Cannon School in Concord. What did your friends think about you racing in your free time?
Cindric: I would say, most like the kids I went to school with probably didn't really understand what I did. It's kind of hard to explain, even when you're 13 or 14 years old, you know, leaving school, traveling every weekend. I think most of them probably thought I was just ditching school. But, you know, working on a career and trying to be able to do this for a long time was always my goal. And obviously, you win the Daytona 500, most people pick up on that and they hear from a lot of people I went to high school with, and it's been pretty cool.
Terry: What are they saying if you heard from them?
Cindric: Yeah, I've heard from teachers and students and people that I grew up with, some people that I haven't heard from in a long time. It's funny. Like some people, you wonder how they even got your phone number.
Terry: Right after you graduated from high school, and I mean literally just hours later, you went over to Charlotte Motor Speedway to compete in a NASCAR race. So you really weren't wasting any time, were you?
Cindric: Yeah, I walked off the stage, grabbed my diploma and went to Charlotte Motor Speedway 10 minutes down the road to qualify for the truck race and then race that night. So, it's kind of what my life has always been about.
Cannon School, they do a lot for college prep and it was kind of weird being really the only student in my class that didn't have any plans on going to college. Even when we did like the College Day in senior year, everybody wears their, you know, the college that they've committed to or something along those lines, during the day you wear a t-shirt, a hoodie or whatever. And I showed up with a cut-off Tony Stewart shirt on because I knew I was going NASCAR racing. So just another way of having fun.
Terry: What's some advice that you wish you had gotten when you first started out?
Cindric: I think I started to say, I mean, you don't want to tell a kid what they're doing doesn't matter at a young age. But it is about the process and not so much about the success from the start. Being able to be patient and generate a good work ethic and being able to really become self-aware, I think really helped me a lot throughout my career and in really slowing down and understanding that. I think that's where I've seen the most progress in myself since I was a kid to now.
Terry: So you've won what race fans call the Super Bowl of NASCAR. So is the pressure on now and how are you adjusting your expectations in approach to the rest of the season?
Cindric Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure my expectations or approach necessarily changes, you know,? I think with winning the Daytona 500, it puts us in the playoffs and it puts us in the All Star race. So those were two things I didn't have before I walked in the track on Sunday. But it does change a bit of the mentality as far as with the team, as far as how aggressive we can be or how patient we can be given the scenario. So it certainly gives us some flexibility as we move forward and work through the regular season trying to get playoff points, trying to obviously contend for more races, but gives us the opportunity as well to try and work on strengths and weaknesses and really be able to refine ourselves on the 2 Team to be able to be on our best once someone's playoffs come round this fall.
Terry Well, congratulations on your win and thank you so much for taking the time. We really appreciate it.
Cindric Absolutely. Thanks, Marshall.
