Austin Cindric’s NASCAR season screeched to an end in early October. Despite winning in Talladega and cracking the playoffs and staying fairly consistent, an unexpected crash took out Cindric at the Charlotte Roval. It stemmed from Carson Hocevar’s contact, and Cindric was ejected from the playoffs. Although he could not end 2025 with a remarkable Cup Series result, he hopes to do so with a decent Supercars result.

The Supercars finale will be flagged off in Adelaide on Friday, with four dazzling finalists keen on the title. They are Broc Feeney, Chaz Moster, Will Brown, and South Australian driver Kai Allen. But while they focus on the championship, Austin Cindric will focus on managing a tough ordeal.

Austin Cindric will have his eyes on the track

The Supercars championship will unfold at the Adelaide Street Circuit – and that dominates Austin Cindric‘s mind. With the high kerbs and especially the infamous Turn 8 sweeper, the street circuit is difficult, as Cindric said recently. “As I’ve said throughout the process, learning the track is going to be my biggest challenge here. It’s a difficult track and a track that all the guys that I’ll be competing against have a ton of laps around and really understand. I’ll learn more on my track walk and my first practice than I think I will in any of the prep work that I’ve done.”

Yet Austin Cindric has already wowed Supercars legends with his first session on Thursday. Driving the No. 5 Ford Mustang, Cindric ended the day 23rd of the 25 entries. He was ahead of two-time Supercars race winner Jack Le Brocq and PremiAir Racing rookie Jayden Ojeda. Cam Waters, Cindric’s Tickford Racing teammate, praised his American counterpart: “I think it’s an awesome start for him, obviously, he had a plan that he had to stick to in that session, and he did that. I think the great thing for him this weekend is that he’s got multiple sessions to build up to it, go through data, get back in the car.”

Yet Austin Cindric has already wowed Supercars legends with his first session on Thursday. Driving the No. 5 Ford Mustang, Cindric ended the day 23rd of the 25 entries. He was ahead of two-time Supercars race winner Jack Le Brocq and PremiAir Racing rookie Jayden Ojeda.

Cam Waters, Cindric’s Tickford Racing teammate, praised his American counterpart: “I think it’s an awesome start for him, obviously, he had  a plan that he had to stick to in that session, and he did that. I think the great thing for him this weekend is that he’s got multiple sessions to build up to it, go through data, get back in the car.”

Austin Cindric is the first American to compete in a Supercars event since 2019, when Alexander Rossi ran the Bathurst 1000. Besides Cindric, the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion, Jesse Love, also did not look out of place in his Image Racing wildcard. He finished second to last and last in both sessions, but he was on the pace. In Practice 2, the 20-year-old was two tenths away from his nearest rival and is in the mix.

While Austin Cindric prepares for the finale on Friday, another Supercars legend is sure that he will do well.

Observing the good signs

The 27-year-old Team Penske star made the trip to Australia not long after the NASCAR Cup Series season ended. Austin Cindric meticulously prepared, adjusting to the time zone difference, observing, and then making his first laps behind the wheel of the Gen3 Mustang last week, which Cindric said was better than NASCAR’s Next-Gen. The result of this preparation was visible to Garth Tander, who won his sixth Bathurst 1000 this year. He got an early indication of Cindric’s talents at the Sandown track.

In what was the 2022 Daytona 500 winner’s first taste of a Supercars event, the outcome was impressive. Garth Tander praised Austin Cindric: “He was putting the car in all the right spaces, he was right foot braking right from the start. His throttle application was nice; there was no wheelspin, and I knew straight away, as soon as I followed him, within half an hour of driving this car, he was going to be good. He was certainly not going to disgrace himself.” He added, “Just to be able to calm yourself down and get within 1.1 by the end, I think, is a really commendable effort.”

Clearly, Austin Cindric may be more prepared than he is willing to divulge. Let’s wait and see how the Penske star performs in the Supercars finale.