NASCAR wildcard set to take on Adelaide’s ‘brutal track’ this weekend
He’s the 2022 DAYTONA 500 champion and a NASCAR legend in the United States. But how will Austin Cindric fare on the street circuit at this weekend’s bp Adelaide Grand Final when he’s “used to turning left all the time”?
NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric will feature on the Adelaide Street Circuit as a wildcard entry in the inaugural bp Adelaide Grand Final, which kicks off on Friday.
Cindric will race with Trickford Racing with support from Ford Performance, building on an historic 2022 Cup Series season when he won the prestigious DAYTONA 500 – the first rookie to do so.
He will be the first-ever wildcard entry for the Adelaide Street Circuit, which this weekend will host the Grand Final of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship.
It will also be Cindric’s first Supercars race in Australia – a tricky proposition given he’s “used to turning left all the time” on the oval NASCAR tracks.
Speaking with legendary Supercars driver Craig Lowndes at the South Australian Business Chamber’s bp Adelaide Grand Final luncheon on Tuesday, Cindric said Adelaide was one of his bucket list tracks.
“Everyone I’ve talked to speaks super highly of this event,” he said.
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“From everything I understand, there’s Bathurst and Adelaide. I think it’s really cool that I get to experience such a big event right off the gate.”
Cindric said he’d taken time to understand the track – described by Lowndes as “brutal” – as well as the car itself.
“I think there are a ton of similarities between what I drive in the states,” Cindric said.
“But the cars, for a big, heavy-front engine V8, are very responsive to driver inputs.”
US motorsport fans were “in love with Supercars”, and he’d been a fan of the Supercars series since he was a kid, he said.
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“It’s always been a dream of mine to come and race in such a competitive category,” Cindric said.
“Your casual motorsport fans in the US are just starting to understand that this series is the real deal.
“I definitely didn’t pick the easiest race track to make my first race, so I’ll definitely be drinking from a fire hydrant.”
The new format of the Supercars championship series kicks off formally on Friday, with one winner from four finalists – Broc Feeney, Chaz Moster, Will Brown and South Australian driver Kai Allen – to take the overall trophy.
Lowndes said his pick for the winner would be between Feeney and Moster.
“The good thing about the four contenders… three of them are genuinely there for their pace. Kai Allen got there because he was smart, but he hasn’t really had the pace all year. He got there because he was smart; his teammate crashed,” Lowndes said.
“Brock’s been on fire all year and then you look at Chaz, who’s been finding some great form at the right time.”
According to the state government, ticket sales were already up more than 50 per cent on the same point last year, with all four-day grandstand seats sold out.
Corporate hospitality bookings were also up by 20 per cent, and the government hopes the event will eclipse the $72.6 million economic benefit it delivered in 2024.
“We invested in the event to grow it and deliver improved economic returns for South Australians,” South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said.
“This year, the new era of the bp Adelaide Grand Final is shaping up as even better.”
