It's no stretch to say that Austin Cindric has had a rough start to the 2025 season. He was wrecked out of the lead while leading on the final lap of the Daytona 500, and again while leading with three laps to go at Atlanta. COTA provided no relief as Cindric started the race in the back of the pack and frustrations quickly boiled over to an incident that gave NASCAR officials pause to review, resulting in a behavioral penalty for the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. While he lost points and some cash, he at least avoided a suspension.
Cindric let his emotions get the better of him when Ty Dillon pushed him wide in the early running. He reacted almost immediately, and intentionally turned Dillon to the right on the frontstretch, causing him to impact the outside wall as other cars took evasive action. Historically, these kind of intentional incidents where a driver is right-hooked into the wall lead to suspensions, but Cindric was able to avoid that fate.
