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May 9, 2026 — Austin Cindric has never been the kind of race car driver who picks one discipline and stays put. Before he settled into NASCAR Cup Series success with Team Penske, he logged time in IMSA endurance cars, open-wheel formula machines, rallycross cars, Australian Supercars, and even the wild Bathurst 12 Hour. Now he’s headed to Daytona International Speedway for Ford’s inaugural Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic on Nov. 11, and he’s making the case that all that variety was worth every mile.
Cindric’s early schedule read like a motorsports encyclopedia: IMSA endurance and GT events, including GTD Pro; the USF2000 National Championship; the Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia; Global RallyCross, where he picked up an X Games bronze medal and finished second in the GRC Lites Championship; and a wildcard entry in the Australian Supercars Championship. That kind of résumé used to raise eyebrows in the stock-car world, where a singular focus was often treated as a virtue. Today, it looks more like preparation for the unpredictable.
“I’m not saying I was the trailblazer for this by any means, but I feel like that’s more common now than maybe 10 years ago when I was coming up,” the 28-year-old told Autoweek. “I don’t know if there’s any race car driver that Ford has that has driven as many different Ford Mustang race cars over the last 15 years than myself.”
That last comment isn’t bragging as much as it is observation. Cindric has sampled Mustang GT4 machinery, stock cars, and the new Mustang Dark Horse R, all under the Ford Performance umbrella. Few drivers of his generation can say the same. For him, the crossover between layouts, tire compounds, and race formats became a classroom.
“The more things you get to drive, the more you realize a race car is just a race car,” Cindric said. “You can pick and pull different things from those experiences and have them help you along the way.”
That belief in mental flexibility is a big reason he’s become a reliable road-course threat in the Cup Series. Modern NASCAR’s Next Gen car punishes drivers who can’t adapt quickly, especially on mixed schedules with ovals, road courses, and street circuits. Cindric’s history of jumping between disciplines gave him a head start in one critical area: coming up to speed fast.
“That is where I feel like I’ve been able to set myself apart in driving some of these different things and coming up to speed quickly,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in it, but it’s also something that’s really a lot of fun.”
The lessons from his cross-training are more relevant now than when he started. Shane van Gisbergen showed how quickly a Supercars champion can adapt to NASCAR after winning in the Chicago street race, and Cindric sees that as proof that varied backgrounds matter. He wasn’t surprised. He had been doing that kind of translation work for years.
Still, Cindric doesn’t pretend his path was easy. During his early career, he said some manufacturer leaders, race-team executives, and sponsors pushed him to commit to a single series. He held off until he reached the Truck Series and then climbed the ladder to Cup. That patience shaped him as much as any car did.
He also admits to a little envy when he watches dirt short-track drivers. “They can kind of just pull up on a weekday and go race,” he said. “Not that it doesn’t require a lot of planning and effort, but it definitely requires less planning and foresight than maybe the Rolex 24 or going and racing in Adelaide in a Supercar. I wish I got to do it more.”
The Ford Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic gives Cindric another chance to do something a little different. The event uses Daytona’s 12-turn, 3.6-mile road course, with a 15-minute qualifying session followed by a 30-minute race. Six two-driver Ford teams will represent the six branches of the U.S. military, each behind the wheel of a Mustang Dark Horse R with a paint scheme inspired by an iconic military vehicle, vessel, or aircraft.
Cindric will represent the Air Force alongside Frankie Muniz, who recently won the Pirelli GT4 America Am Class Championship. The rest of the lineup is loaded with Ford talent:
The event is also a full entertainment package. Zac Brown Band, Russell Dickerson, Jo Dee Messina, Brittney Spencer, and Warren Zeiders are scheduled to perform. The race airs live from 8-10 p.m. ET on USA Network and streams on Fandango. The entertainment portion will air on E! and stream on TikTok LIVE via @e_entertainment, @usanetwork, and @usasports.
Ford has tied the race to six nonprofits: Blue Star Families, Camp Southern Ground, Disabled American Veterans, Team Rubicon, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, and the Travis Manion Foundation. Each organization gets its own space at the pre-race tailgate. General admission tickets start at $110, while VIP packages are $305. Veterans verified through GovX receive a 20 percent discount, and Ticketmaster is waiving fees for everyone. Ford Philanthropy is also providing 1,000 complimentary tickets to eligible military and veteran families.
For Cindric, the night is about more than racing. It’s the payoff of a career built on trying things most drivers were told to avoid. As he puts it, you never know which experience will become the one that matters on a given Sunday. He may have taken the long way around to get there, but it’s exactly what made him a better NASCAR driver.
