Getty Austin Cindric and Corey LaJoie
Austin Cindric doesn’t typically wear his emotions on his sleeve, but the Team Penske driver was furious after crashing out of NASCAR’s season-opening Daytona 500.
Cindric blamed Corey LaJoie for causing the final accident that ultimately ended the race. While many people pointed the finger at Ross Chastain for causing the chaos, Cindric let it be known that the blame is on LaJoie.
“Corey finished fourth, so congrats,” a sarcastic Cindric told FOX Sports. “He tried to fit a car where there wasn’t a car and just continued to push through my left rear until I wrecked. I understand trying to shuck me out because I wasn’t probably in the best spot possible coming into the white. But yeah, I’m at the care center and I don’t even know where I finished.”
Cindric says Ross wasn’t aware that it wrecked the 2
LaJoie made contact with Cindric’s rear bumper, sending him sideways into Chastain and through the grass. The 2021 Daytona 500 winner slid back onto the track into oncoming traffic, which triggered the yellow flag, securing the win for William Byron. Cindric finished 22nd, and was miffed that the Spire Motorsports driver was able to finish in fourth.
When made aware of Cindric’s criticism, LaJoie gave his unfiltered opinion. “The 2 left the bottom open,” LaJoie told Bob Pockrass after the race. “I tried to fill it kind of lazily, he kind of blocked it lazily. It’s the last lap. I’ve seen him do a lot of dumb things, too, and we’re not friends. So that’s that.”
Corey LaJoie was happy with his fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500. What he saw on the last lap and the contact with Austin Cindric:
There may be a rivalry brewing between these two drivers, whom both still have much to prove in their Cup careers. Neither has established themselves as a perineal title contender.
Round 2 This Weekend
Although there are only a few superspeedway tracks on the schedule, another one awaits this weekend at Atlanta. The newly paved circuit looks and feels like Daytona, but on a much smaller stage. Drafting will once again be the main point of conversation, with teams and drivers trying to work together until the closing laps.
Manufacturers have had the strongest pull in these scenarios over the last few years. Cindric pilots a Ford and LaJoie drives a Chevrolet so while they won’t plan on running together, the situation may arise organically at some point in the race.
These two typically find themselves in the middle of the pack though, and the NASCAR Gods have a way of getting rivals (Chastain and Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ty Gibbs) into these awkward situations.
A Real Rivalry Brewing?
Rivalries usually tend to involved powerhouse teams or sometimes with the walls of the same organization. Rarely does a powerhouse company like Roger Penske’s find itself in a spat with a growing team like Spire Motorsports.
Spire feels like a team on the rise, while Cindric is trying to prove that he is worthy of his seat. Outside of the Daytona victory to begin his Cup career, the 25-year-old has not had much else to show in his 79 other starts.
According to Race-Reference, Austin has a total of six top-five finishes, with just one of them coming last season. Cindric finished 24th in the standings last year – one spot ahead of LaJoie in 25th.