Austin Cindric is among those who want to see everything the Chicago street course offers without the weather variable, which means the Team Penske driver gets a chance for a performance do-over.
“I still feel like we haven’t seen the full potential (of the course),” Cindric said this week.
Cindric finished sixth after starting 31st in the inaugural Chicago race, which was shortened due to darkness. The race started later than scheduled because of a record amount of rain and resultant flooding.
The forecast is much more favorable this weekend, which would eliminate a wet-weather race and single-file restarts. NASCAR also tweaked a few competition items at the behest of drivers. One of them was the chosen rule’s location, which Cindric admitted was among his suggestions. It will be located in Turn 6 instead of Turn 9.
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But good weather conditions are one variable. Despite the field having a year of experience under its belt on the Chicago streets, Cindric isn’t convinced that will equate to a better race.
“I don’t know; we could all just be more confident and all dive off into the (tires),” Cindric said with a laugh. “My goal for the weekend is not to hit the Turn 4 wall. I hit it twice last year on Saturday, so if I can get away from the weekend without doing that, I’d be happy.”
Turn 4 is the most challenging corner, Cindric joked. It is a right-hander at the end of the long Lake Shore Drive straightaway.
“But otherwise, I think it’s yet to be seen (how good the race will be) because I don’t know what our longest run was last year, but it couldn’t have been more than 14 laps or something like that,” Cindric said. “I think this weekend will be a real true test to what the course has to offer and what the race looks like.”
Cindric and his fellow competitors get on track for the first time Saturday morning.