Austin Cindric scored his second consecutive win of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season when he took the checkered flag in Saturday’s B&L Transport 170 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
One week after scoring his first career win at Watkins Glen, Cindric led a race-high 46 laps from the pole at the Ohio 2.258-mile road course. Cindric took the lead for the final time on Lap 63 when he passed Chase Briscoe on the outside in Turn 2.
“To get my first two wins within a week is incredible,” Cindric said.
The win was redemption for Cindric after he lost the lead late in the race last year after leading 59 laps. It was also special because of the ties his family has to the track.
“It’s cool because there was probably a kid out there watching in the corners wanting to be a race car driver one day and that was me 10, 12 years ago,” Cindric said. “It was our family vacation coming here. Obviously the significance with the Truman family and my mom’s side of the family. It would be incredible if my grandpa were alive today and be able to see that win.”
Cindric joins Rick Mast, Steve Grissom, Chad Little, Jamie McMurray and William Byron as the only drivers that won their first two series races back-to-back.
“I want to know how short the list is for three?,” Cindric said when he was informed of that stat. “Next week isn’t going to be easy, but I’ve grown a lot at tracks like Bristol. I’m already thinking about what I need to work on.”
Christopher Bell finished second to tie his best career road course finish set last week at Watkins Glen.
AJ Allmendinger was third with Tyler Reddick and Noah Gragson rounding out the top five.
Defending race winner Justin Allgaier came back from a spin on Lap 37 to finish sixth. It marked his 17th career top 10 finish on a road course.
Stage 1 winner Briscoe, Cole Custer, Justin Haley and Brandon Jones completed the top 10.
Jack Hawksworth won Stage 2 and finished 15th in his series debut driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I enjoyed it,” Hawksworth said. “It was a lot of fun. Thank you to Joe Gibbs Racing for having me, Toyota for putting it together and of course my team AVS (AIM VASSER SULLIVAN) in IMSA and Lexus for allowing me to come and do this and experience it. We had a lot of fun out there. Some good battles at the beginning.”
The Xfinity Series now heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for Friday’s Food City 300.
