Austin Cindric and 19-year-old NASCAR Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch are out of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, after a hard multi-car accident on Lap 52.
Cindric, running inside the top-15 at the time of the incident, went spinning in Turn 2 after Christopher Bell got right to the rear bumper of the No. 2 Menards / Duracell Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The Team Penske driver spun to the SAFER Barrier but was unable to stay up towards the outside wall, sliding down the track.
“I saw the No. 2 [Austin Cindric] spinning quite aways in front of me,” Zilisch said after exiting the infield care center. “As soon as I hit the apron, I was just going too fast to really be able to maneuver the car. I got loose and ended up getting clipped in the right rear. It’s really unfortunate for our No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet team. I felt like we made a good adjustment on that last pit stop. We just have to keep our heads down, and it’ll turn around.”
William Byron, running just behind the accident on the outside lane, was able to barely skirt around the inside (only with a tiny scrape to the right side of his No. 24 Chevrolet), but Connor Zilisch wasn’t that lucky, clobbering the front-end of Cindric’s vehicle as he passed by.
Both cars went to the garage after the Lap 52 incident, where it was decided by the Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing teams that they’d be unable to return to the racetrack and run more laps in the longest race of the season.
The 39th-place finish is a major detriment to Cindric, who entered Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 sitting 15th in NASCAR Cup Series point standings and only 10 points above the cutline. Zilisch entered the evening sitting 32nd in points, 138 points below the cutline.
