{"id":623133,"date":"2026-04-23T11:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623133\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:14:11","slug":"austin-cindric-on-the-race-that-changed-his-career-trolling-with-ai-slop-and-more-12-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623133\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Cindric on the race that changed his career, trolling with AI slop and more: 12 Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Austin Cindric, the defending winner of the Talladega Superspeedway spring race and one of the favorites as the NASCAR Cup Series returns there this weekend. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Do you typically arrive for things early, late or on time, and why?<\/p>\n

Right on the number, almost to a point where it\u2019s somewhat comedic for me.<\/p>\n

2. What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?<\/p>\n

Not having enough time to eat lunch on race day is usually the thing. That\u2019s a good way to set me off, is not having enough time to actually be physically prepared to race.<\/p>\n

How does that happen?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re running around (to appearances and sponsor obligations), and sometimes time that looks like more time isn\u2019t enough time. I have a bit of a routine, but I still want to make sure I\u2019m fully physically prepared to go out there and sit in the car for four hours.<\/p>\n

3. What is something you\u2019ve learned to stop explaining to people?<\/p>\n

People ask me every weekend what my favorite racetrack is, and for the longest time, I would explain that I don\u2019t necessarily have a favorite racetrack. I\u2019ve stopped telling that story, because it\u2019s just a mouthful. Sometimes I can explain afterward, but otherwise I just tell them Dover.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m inherently a very honest person, so if I don\u2019t have one, I\u2019m gonna tell you I don\u2019t have one. But that\u2019s a lame answer to tell race fans and your sponsors and everybody else, so you feel obligated to explain why.<\/p>\n

4. If you could go back to the early days before you reached NASCAR, what is one different decision you wish you had made?<\/p>\n

I wish I would have gotten to do more karting when I was younger.<\/p>\n

Because I watch some of the kids now at the go-kart track \u2014 I don\u2019t know what the class is called, maybe Cadet \u2014 but they do a lot of racing like bump drafting, trying to figure out when to pass, when not to pass, a lot of side-by-side switching the lead. They can\u2019t ever get away from each other.<\/p>\n

The kids who are good at that have a lot of race craft skills that I feel like I developed as a teenager when I first started racing in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Being comfortable being side by side and interacting with competitors \u2026 I know I would have grown in an area that I had to grow later, so I always think about that.<\/p>\n

5. What is it like to be in a debrief after a bad race?<\/p>\n

Bad for me or bad for the company? Because they\u2019re very different. For both, you have to read the room. If someone has a strong opinion of where you were off \u2014 whether that\u2019s me or the team \u2014 you have to acknowledge that.<\/p>\n

And if no one has a strong opinion, then as a leader of the team, you have to not only break down what happened and how you got there, but also ask if you missed anything.<\/p>\n

Those are the most important meetings. Those are the ones where you\u2019re honest with the people around you \u2014 things you did, things others did. You have to tell others what they could have done better, and they have to tell you what you could do better.<\/p>\n

At this level, you assume everyone is trying their hardest and using every ounce of knowledge they have. So if I\u2019ve done that and the day is still bad, I\u2019m going to need someone else to help me figure out why it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

\n Austin Cindric won last year\u2019s spring race at Talladega, the third Cup Series win of his career. (Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

6. I\u2019m asking each person a pair of wild-card questions: One about the past and one about the present. In terms of the past, you got your first career win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2017 when you bumped Kaz Grala out of the way on the last lap (in the Truck Series). At the time, you got a lot of hate for that. But you were trying to win to get a playoff spot. So almost 10 years later, how do you view that incident now?<\/p>\n

That was one of the single most important decisions I\u2019ve ever made in my career. I\u2019m not here if I don\u2019t win that race. Because I don\u2019t make the playoffs, I don\u2019t finish third in the championship, I don\u2019t earn a shot for Roger (Penske) and Ford and Roush to take a chance on me to run full-time Xfinity.<\/p>\n

At that time, I wasn\u2019t going to make the playoffs, and I hadn\u2019t done enough up to that point (in his career). The Truck team (Brad Keselowski Racing) shut down that same year. From a big-picture standpoint, a lot doesn\u2019t happen if I don\u2019t make the playoffs in the Trucks.<\/p>\n

It was kind of a Hail Mary for me to even go run the Trucks in the first place. I\u2019d only done like four races before that. It was my first full season in a stock car, and I was racing in the Truck Series; there were basic concepts I didn\u2019t understand yet.<\/p>\n

As far as the noise and the negativity \u2014 you look back at every race there up to that point, I think there was only one finish where the leader wasn\u2019t wrecked. Even the year before, not only did (John Hunter) Nemechek and (Cole) Custer wreck each other, but my teammate also wrecked me in the last corner, and I would have won the race if that wouldn\u2019t have happened. That was all in the back of my mind \u2014 the precedent had been set.<\/p>\n

I never understood why guys waited until the last corner. If you\u2019re going to get somebody, at least get them earlier and don\u2019t yard-sale them. I knew I was better than Kaz in that section of the track, so I drove in as hard as I could and knew it would stick, and if I ran into him, that\u2019s what it will be.<\/p>\n

Not trying to justify it \u2014 but going back to my first point, if that doesn\u2019t happen, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n

7. As far as the present, at Bristol last week, you posted an AI video of a gladiator telling people to tune into the race. It drew a ton of harsh blowback, with people upset at you for using AI. Many of the comments were about AI slop. So then for Kansas, you doubled down and posted actual AI slop \u2014 a video of a man cleaning up a mess of tomatoes that had been thrown at him, followed by some bizarre imagery. Why did you keep going with the AI videos after people were mad?<\/p>\n

This ended up going way better than I ever thought it would as a social experiment. (Laughs.) Maybe it\u2019s not fair for someone in my position to use our race fans as part of a social experiment, but the basis of it is, I get really bored with the monotonous posting. I don\u2019t see myself as an influencer. If I have something meaningful to say, I\u2019ll say it and I\u2019ll make a post. I want anyone who follows me to know it\u2019s coming from me; it\u2019s not coming from anyone else, I\u2019m not being asked to do this \u2014 whatever the words are, it\u2019s coming from me, and I want those posts to be genuine.<\/p>\n

But every race week, you have to do these \u201cTune in!\u201d posts. I understand their importance \u2014 I use drivers\u2019 pages to find race schedules myself \u2014 but it\u2019s a boring space.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d started doing these the last couple years. I had a cool graphic made to mimic an old Ford ad, and I\u2019ve run out of that idea. I didn\u2019t really have a good idea going into this year, so I didn\u2019t do it. Then I started seeing all these AI videos and thought, \u201cNo one in racing from a social posting standpoint is using much AI. \u2026 This could be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I got a free trial, typed in some prompts that were related to the race weekend, just plug it out there and see how it goes. And\u00a0wow! (Laughs.) I had no idea how negatively some people view it. As far as doubling down \u2014 I mean, I have the free trial, so why not have fun with it? \u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a great time playing with it, but there are two things I don\u2019t want. One, I don\u2019t want to create more work for myself, and I am the one generating these, so that\u2019s time away from my week. If they\u2019re appreciated, great; if not, maybe I have to do something else to fill the void.<\/p>\n

But I also don\u2019t want to incite negativity. So for that reason, it\u2019ll probably die with my free trial.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019ll probably die with my free trial,\u201d Austin Cindric says of his use of AI. (Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

8. If you could get any driver\u2019s helmet in the history of motorsports, whose would it be?<\/p>\n

Greg Moore. My dad has one helmet, and I\u2019ve seen several others, but that\u2019d be a cool one to have.<\/p>\n

9. When things are not going well, do you prefer people leave you alone or check in on you?<\/p>\n

Totally situational. From a personal side, from a professional side \u2014 I\u2019m someone who generally keeps to myself on most things. So yeah, totally depends.<\/p>\n

10. What is something about yourself that would surprise people who think they know you?<\/p>\n

Most people think I\u2019m very reserved or shy. Not true. But I don\u2019t open up to a ton of people. When I do, you get all of it or none of it.<\/p>\n

11. What is something you laugh about now that was absolutely not funny at the time?<\/p>\n

When I raced Rallycross, they had me doing media rides before I\u2019d even done a race. They had a little parking lot course at the Port of L.A. I was 15 or 16, trying to learn the car and driving people around this racetrack.<\/p>\n

I came over a crest, got loose, didn\u2019t correct it right, had a passenger in the car and I took out these Jersey barriers with the right side of the car. Ripped the mirror off \u2014 not my car \u2014 and I thought it was over. I was on the verge of tears. Thought no one would let me drive the race car, I had a person in the car, what does that all mean?<\/p>\n

Scott Speed comes running up to my car, opens my door, and says, \u201cNow it\u2019s a party!\u201d (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know how to respond. I couldn\u2019t tell if he was making fun of me. My dad was laughing.<\/p>\n

Now I say that all the time when something goes wrong: \u201cNow it\u2019s a party!\u201d<\/p>\n

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. Last week was Chase Elliott<\/a> and he wanted to know: What is the biggest leadership trait you\u2019ve learned from Roger Penske that you\u2019ll carry with you beyond your racing days?<\/p>\n

That is a hell of a question. The first thing that comes to mind is remembering everyone\u2019s name \u2014 at 27 years old, I haven\u2019t mastered that quality. I don\u2019t know if I ever will, so I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s something I could take. But if I would I could, because it definitely makes an impact.<\/p>\n

But more than that, it\u2019s remembering experiences with people. When he\u2019s one-on-one with you \u2014 whether you\u2019re a driver, custodian, facilities guy, race engineer \u2014 every experience is fairly human and personal.<\/p>\n

It catches people off guard that he\u2019s not (intimidating). He is a very powerful figure, but he\u2019s just another guy. He\u2019s a racer. Staying true to that for as long as he has \u2014 that personal experience with each person no matter who you are or where you rank \u2014 is critically important if you\u2019re going to be a leader.<\/p>\n

The next interview is with Bubba Wallace. Do you have a question I can ask him?<\/p>\n

You get to add one zero to anything in your life \u2014 what would you choose and why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Austin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-623133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-motorsports","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}