Denny Hamlin says the win found Austin Cindric at Gateway

Austin Cindric won the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway on Sunday, and Denny Hamlin knows how he did it. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin revealed that Cindric earned his first win of the Cup Series season by staying consistent while having a little bit of luck.

“This is the definition of if you just run in the top five wins will find you,” Hamlin said. “This one where the win found him, but they did a great job of qualifying well and putting themselves in a position to be in the top five all day long.

“He also had to cut his way through the pack at times. When the field did flip that one stage, he had to restart and had to go by guys. It’s not like it was just kinda easy sailing the whole time.”

Hamlin also reacted to Cindric making the playoffs after earning the win. “That’s amazing,” he said. “One race out of 25, boom all of sudden you’re a playoff contender now. It’s just crazy how the system works.”

Cindric’s last win came in the 2022 Daytona 500. In 2023, Cindric earned four top-five finishes and missed out on the playoffs. This year, the 25-year-old only earned one top-five finish before Sunday, placing fourth in the Atlanta spring race.

Austin Cindric says ‘we have to get better’ after winning Gateway race

During the post-race press conference, Cindric talked about how the win impacts him going forward. “It definitely gives us an option. From a points perspective, how many positions can I gain with the guys that are in the Playoffs, as far as getting those Playoff points at the end of the regular season. I think that’s the topic of conversation,” he said.

“After that, do we go to a road course next week at Sonoma, go and get Playoffs if we don’t feel like we’re good enough to win the race. Makes those decisions easier to throw some Hail Marys. Past that we have to get better. It’s no secret, this is our first win as a company this season. So we still got to be able to go out there and put numbers on the board and continue to grow our program, grow our team to where we are ready for the opportunity.

“It’s a run in the Playoffs. That is what’s possible. The season is long. The summer is long. A lot can happen, a lot can change. Pretty important next couple months for us to get ready for that.”