In NASCAR, conversations about the sport’s future often circle the same track: ratings, attendance, and comparisons to the glitzier worlds of basketball or football. Every time a new television number dips a fraction of a point, or an empty patch of grandstand gets circulated on social media, the chatter gains fire. Journalists, former drivers, and even television analysts sometimes lean into that narrative, and in doing so, help shape how viewers think the sport is faring. Austin Cindric has noticed this pattern and, like others in the garage, understands how quickly it shapes public perception.

On the flip side, the sport continues to showcase fiercely competitive racing, a diverse driver lineup, and a growing schedule designed to capture attention in fresh ways. Somewhere between perception and reality sits NASCAR’s ongoing battle not just about horsepower or rules packages, but about storylines and self-belief. And the most recent to express his views on this happens to be Austin Cindric.

Austin Cindric’s direct message

When asked what it would take for NASCAR to reach the “next level” of popularity, Austin Cindric initially offered a tongue-in-cheek answer – “More horsepower!” But quickly, he pivoted to a more serious point about the state of the sport and, more importantly, how insiders speak about it with a four-word answer: “We control the narrative.”

“NASCAR doesn’t give itself enough credit as an industry,” Cindric told Jeff Gluck. “There are a lot of professional sports below our level, but we live in this bubble, comparing ourselves to stick-and-ball sports. Other sports don’t compare themselves to NASCAR, but we’re constantly comparing ourselves to them.”

That self-comparison, Cindric argued, feeds into an unnecessary inferiority complex. Ratings fluctuations like the Daytona 500 this year tell a more nuanced story than the surface-level negativity suggests. FOX drew an average of 6.76 million viewers for Sunday’s race, which was delayed several hours by rainstorms in Florida. The race peaked at 7.95 million viewers shortly after it commenced. But these rating numbers alone don’t tell the whole story; you have to look beyond that.

The delay in the race meant it would clash with the NBA All-Star Game, which averaged 4.7 million viewers Sunday night across TNT Sports platforms. However, the same race, which was postponed to Monday the year prior, averaged 5.96 million viewers on FOX, while in 2023, FOX’s audience was 8.17 million viewers. While some weeks don’t match traditional highs from two decades ago, NASCAR still does outpace properties like the IndyCar Series or Major League Soccer. Yet the commentary often frames it as though the sport is struggling across the board.

Cindric specifically pointed to the role of media members and ex-insiders in amplifying this. “If you take a respected journalist that says ‘NASCAR is dying’ or one of these ex-drivers or ex-crew chiefs in the booth saying ‘They’ve got all these problems and the sport needs to grow,’ fans will think, ‘Oh, the sport needs to grow. It’s not doing great.”

Amidst this, a positive trend was spotted in NASCAR over the weekend for its second-tier Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona. The CW, also in its rookie year of full-season airing of NASCAR races, averaged 1.8 million viewers for Saturday’s race. What is more is that it marked the most-watched Xfinity Series broadcast since the Talladega race in April 2022.

His final point was sharp and memorable: “We control the narrative, 100 percent of the way. It’s that easy, in my opinion.” With those words, Cindric put the responsibility squarely on the industry itself, drivers, broadcasters, journalists, and anyone with influence around the sport to either present NASCAR as thriving and evolving or as limping along. The narrative, in other words, isn’t dictated solely by statistics, but by how those statistics are framed.

Hard lessons and resilience inside Austin Cindric’s toughest moment

Austin Cindric’s journey in NASCAR has not only been marked by high-profile victories like his 2022 Daytona 500 win but also by deeply personal struggles behind the wheel that reveal the toughness required to compete at this level. One poignant example came from the 2020 Bristol Xfinity race, which Cindric recently described as the most painful and emotional experience of his racing career.

During that race, Cindric found himself locked in a fierce battle for the lead, surging past Ross Chastain on a restart and looking set to claim victory over Chase Briscoe. But just five laps into a critical 40-lap closing run, his power steering failed. In an interview with Jeff Gluck, the 26-year-old admitted that the most miserable he’s ever been in a race car came during the 2020 Bristol Xfinity event. “I was bending the steering wheel in my hands,” he admitted. “I’ve never been in tears because of physical pain and strain before, but just to lose like that, it sucked hard.” 

This defining moment of struggle and self-reflection has fueled Cindric’s mindset as he approaches the present season. Analysts now see him as a driver coming into his own, embodying the persistence and maturity required to carry Team Penske’s championship hopes forward.

Ultimately, Cindric’s story of pain, perseverance, and personal growth underscores the emotional depth beneath NASCAR’s competitive surface. It also reinforces the importance of internal narratives not just about the sport’s popularity but about the grit and determination that define its stars.