Cindric stays perfect with win in Bully Hill Vineyards 100 at Watkins Glen International

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Youth was the name of the game on Friday at Watkins Glen International.

The top four finishers of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Bully Hill Vineyards 100 were under 20, including eventual winner Austin Cindric, who dominated the 40-lap race that kicked off a tripleheader weekend of NASCAR action at the historic circuit in New York.

Cindric, a high school senior, kept his record in the series perfect, as he leaves Watkins Glen with two starts that have ended in trips to Gatorade Victory Lane. Kaz Grala was the first driver to put pressure on Cindric, who started from the pole, and then relinquished second place to Cole Custer with 10 laps remaining. With just five to go, point leader Justin Haley overtook Custer and pushed Cindric for the final two laps but just didn’t have enough to catch Cindric.

The 17-year-old Cindric is the son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, and has established an impressive racing resume this season, competing in several stock car and sports car racing series around
the country. He set the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East qualifying record at the newly repaved Watkins Glen earlier Friday with a lap of 1:12.408.

"It's just a lot of fun to do these weekends," Cindric said. "It's great because it's a way to make my name in stock car racing since I'm very new. Hopefully, it will transfer over when I start to do some oval stuff."

The race weekend continues on Saturday, August 6 with qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at 12:15 p.m. and the green flag drops  on the NASCAR XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday's action at The Glen are still available online at www.theglen.com, or at the track's ticket office, located at Gate 4A just off of County Route 16.(WGI)