Austin Cindric on Wild Four-Wide Move for the Lead: "That was kind of cool, wasn’t it?"

While Austin Cindric ultimately came up short of the win in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the fourth-place finisher, who drives the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang, pulled the pin on one of the most electrifying moves we've seen in recent NASCAR history.

With the sun beginning to set in the distance, and the glare shining in his face, Cindric saw Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., and Chase Briscoe running three wide while battling for the lead ahead of him when, all of a sudden, Cindric got a massive run with the draft. He had two options; lift and stay in line, or fire his car in there and see what happened.

He chose to go for it, and as he turned the battle for the lead into a four-wide affair, it felt like you could hear a collective gasp over the incredibly loud Next Gen cars amongst the crowd at the 1.54-mile speedway in Hampton, GA. While it seemed like there was no way in hell it would work, Cindric not only successfully went four-wide, but he took the lead in the race with 50 laps to go.

When asked about his high-risk / high-reward move after the race, Cindric's face lit up.

“That was kind of cool, wasn’t it? I mean, four-wide at Atlanta, that doesn’t really work in the corners, it only works in the straights, but I had enough time to think about if it was a good idea and it was a good idea," Cindric explained. "I’m sure it looked cool and made for good pictures.”

As soon as Cindric took the time to calculate how the four-wide move would play out in his head, he had no doubt about what to do.

“Someone’s gotta do it," Cindric said. "I can promise you I’ll be the guy.”

A big reason why Cindric decided to fire it in there was he knew with the big run he had, he wouldn't be four-wide for very long. But what he didn't know is that once he got by, the field would keep running four-wide behind him for several laps. Cindric said he kept watching the mirror waiting for calamity to strike. It never did.

“They were only four-wide with me for about half a second. I had a big enough run that didn’t last too long," Cindric explained. "I did look in my mirrors expecting them to wreck being four-wide for that many laps. That is pretty impressive."

Cindric says what made it so impressive that drivers were able to compete four-wide at Atlanta was the fact that the cars were nearly impossible to drive with the dirty air that was flying around in the packs.

"What the viewer doesn’t understand is how difficult it is to follow at this racetrack, especially when you have all that turbulent air coming out of the hood next to the other cars. That’s what got me at the end, honestly, guys just running close to me. It’s not easy to do, but I guess that’s why they call us the best in the world,” Cindric quipped.

He had fun leading laps, he scored the Stage 2 win, but Cindric couldn't help but leave Atlanta Motor Speedway disappointed that he and the rest of the Team Penske organization didn't nab any hardware.

“It’s really unfortunate to have two weeks in a row where I feel like Team Penske has brought three of the best race cars to the racetrack and not come home with a win," Cindric anguished. "Obviously, we got really close with [Ryan Blaney]. It was fun to lead laps and win the stage. I got in a real tight aero spot while I was following Ryan and washed up the track a bit. He was, honestly, in a really tough spot with the runs that were coming from behind. I thought he was gonna be able to hold on, but the first win for the Mustang Dark Horse has to wait another race.”

With the great run at Atlanta, Cindric vaulted eight spots in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings from 11th to third. He'll try to keep the positive momentum going as he heads into Las Vegas Motor Speedway next season as he attempts to work his way back into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

Photo Credit: Nigel Kinrade, NKP, courtesy of Toyota Racing