Mooresville's Cindric Still Xfinity Points Leader Despite Crash

DARLINGTON, SC —Mooresville, NC native Austin Cindric still sits atop the NASCAR Xfintiy Series leaderboard despite crashing in the final lap of Saturday's Steakhouse Elite 200 at Darlington Raceway. Cindric climbed from the car under his own power, but was unable to complete the race and finished 29th.

But the Lady in Black, as Darlington is known, was not all bad news for Cindric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion. The 22-year-old did lead for 34 laps and won Stage 1, his fifth stage victory of the season. Overall, Cindric earned 21 points, including a playoff point. Ahead of Saturday's race at Dover, DE, Cindric (388 points) is 39 points ahead of second-place Daniel Hembric (349) in the overall standings.

"The Lady in Black was not too kind to the Men in Pink today," Cindric tweeted after the race, referring to the pink uniforms he and his team donned in honor of Mother's Day. "(We) left with a playoff point and a torn up race car. I've had worse days, but better days (are) ahead."

Cindric's No. 22 CarShop Ford Mustang started Saturday's race in the second position, and performed well early. He took the lead from Noah Gregson on lap 26 and was still in front when the segment ended on lap 45.

Cindric ran inside the top-five for much of Stage 2, and eventually finished eighth.

In the final stage, Cindric was running 11th when the seventh caution was displayed on lap 127, and he restarted in ninth on lap 131. Two more cautions followed, the latter forcing the finish of the race into NASCAR overtime.

Cindric pitted during the final caution and took on four tires, hoping they would help him in the closing laps. However, an accident in Turn 2 of the final lap prevented him from finishing the race.

"It's just unfortunate. We started off strong and won the first stage and led some laps," Cindric said according to a Team Penske press release. "Everyone on the CarShop team did a great job throughout the race. At the end, we were just trying to do what others didn't. It just didn't work out for us and we will move on to Dover next week."