DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – En el cumpleaños número 85 del propietario de su auto, Roger Penske, el novato de la NASCAR Cup Series, Austin Cindric, de 23 años, venció a Bubba Wallace en la línea de meta por 0.036 segundos en tiempo extra para ganar la carrera número 64 del Daytona el domingo. 500.
En una carrera emocionante hasta la meta en el nuevo auto de carreras Next Gen de NASCAR en el Daytona International Speedway, Cindric superó a Wallace y Chase Briscoe (.091 segundos detrás) para lograr su primera victoria en la Copa en su octava participación en la serie.
Cindric obtuvo la victoria en el clima de la cámara de comercio con una multitud llena en las gradas.
“Oh, Dios mío, ¿sabes qué hace que esto sea aún mejor? Una casa repleta”, se regocijó Cindric después de bajarse de su auto. “Una casa repleta en las 500 Millas de Daytona. “Oh, Dios mío, tengo que agradecer a tanta gente. En primer lugar, Roger Penske. ¡Feliz cumpleaños!
“Todos han trabajado muy duro en este automóvil Next Gen y durante todo el proceso. Estoy tan emocionada. Esto compensa la pérdida de un campeonato en la última carrera en la que estuve (final de temporada de la Serie Xfinity 2021 en Phoenix Raceway).
“Estoy rodeado de grandes personas, eso es todo. Sé que habrá altibajos, siendo un novato. Estoy agradecido por la oportunidad y emocionado de escalar la montaña que tenemos delante en el equipo No. 2. Estamos en los Playoffs, esa es una casilla marcada. Dios mío, qué increíble grupo de fans; que impresionante auto de carrera. Estoy realmente agradecido”.
Un accidente de tres autos en la curva 4 en la vuelta 195 de las 200 programadas eliminó al Chevrolet No. 47 de Ricky Stenhouse Jr., quien lideraba para un reinicio en esa misma vuelta pero fue empujado por Brad Keselowski. El incidente forzó la carrera a tiempo extra, lo que requirió una vuelta extra para que Cindric se adjudicara la victoria.
Un accidente anterior de seis autos en la vuelta 190 había eliminado al actual campeón de la serie Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Todd Gilliland, Erik Jones y Noah Gragson, quien estaba haciendo su primera largada en la primera división de NASCAR.
Cindric era el líder cuando la carrera se reinició en la vuelta 200, y al final de una lucha salvaje de dos vueltas, luego de bloquear una fuerte carrera de su compañero de equipo del equipo Penske, Ryan Blaney, llegó a la línea de meta aproximadamente tres pies por delante de Wallace, quien fue subcampeón de la Great American Race por segunda vez.
“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.”
Blaney came home fourth, followed by Aric Almirola, who will leave full-time racing at the end of the season. Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, David Ragan, Keselowski and Chase Elliott completed the top 10.
Less than three laps from the end of the first stage, a push from Keselowski turned the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford of Harrison Burton sideways at the head of the outside lane. Burton’s Mustang nosed down the track into the No. 24 Chevrolet of William Byron, whose car slammed nose-first into the inside wall on the backstretch.
Kyle Busch spun sideways during the ensuing eight-car wreck. Denny Hamlin’s Toyota sustained terminal suspension damage, eliminating the field’s only multiple winner of the Daytona 500. The No. 1 Chevrolet of Ross Chastain was also knocked out of the race.
After the impact with Byron’s car and a jolt from the Toyota of Christopher Bell, Burton’s Ford turned upside down and landed on top of the Chevrolet of Alex Bowman, who had started the race on the outside of the front row. The impact righted Burton’s car, which a wrecker towed to the garage. Bowman lost four laps as his crew tried to return the No. 48 Camaro to raceable condition.
“I’m fine—I’ve hit a lot harder before, that’s for sure,” Burton said after a trip to the infield care center. “It’s just unfortunate. I hate it for the Wood Brothers group. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang down here and ended up on our lid, so that’s never good…
“I don’t know, I just got pushed and didn’t take it the right way—the car didn’t take it the right way or got pushed in the wrong spot. I’m not sure. I couldn’t really tell. I was looking out front to see what I had to do next to side draft the next guy that was on me, so just a bummer. I don’t really know what we could have done different, but we’ll move on and get better from it.”
From Hamlin’s standpoint, it was clear what happened.
“The 6 (Keselowski) was pushing the 21 (Burton) and you could see the 21 was kind of getting out of control there,” said Hamlin, who failed to finish a Daytona 500 for the first time in 17 starts and lost his chance for a fourth visit to Victory Lane. “So you know the mind-set was that you’ve got to back off, but I think the 6 was just insistent on pushing him at all costs and eventually turned the 21 around.
“Tough, you know, considering it was just for the stage. We were kind of boxed in there where I noticed that something was going to happen, but I was boxed in, I was behind a teammate (Kyle Busch), and I wanted to try to help. Again, just too aggressive pushing right there when they weren’t lined up and in control.”
Truex won the first stage under caution and then claimed victory in the second stage, which ran under green-flag conditions from the restart on Lap 72 to the conclusion on Lap 130. Truex came from third to first on the final lap to grab the stage win.
Keselowski, however, was first off pit road under caution for the stage break and led the field to green for a restart on Lap 138. Keselowski held the top spot until Tyler Reddick’s Chevrolet broke loose in Turn 4 on Lap 151 and started a wreck that damaged the contending cars of Truex, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track next week at Auto Club Speedway for the Wise Power 400 on February 27, 2022.
CORTESIA :NASCAR