Cindric came to win Darlington, and sign some autographs (2024)

FLORENCE, S.C. — Saturday started early for some NASCAR fans who gathered at Florence’s Discount Tire to get an autograph and maybe a picture with Austin Cindric, who drives Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Driver appearances around Florence and Darlington are common as drivers work for their sponsors and drive a bit of racing hype at the same time.

Cindric, decked out in logo attire, greeted his fans as he sat beside one of his race cars.

“I like all of them I’m just a NASCAR fan. I just like to see a good, competitive race with nobody getting hurt,” said Chris Carden, who arrived at the store at the corner of David McLeod Boulevard and Woody Jones Boulevard at 8:20 a.m. to be first in line.

“I’m going to get a couple of autographs,” Carden said. “I’ve never met Austin so it’s going to be cool to meet him for the first time. I started as a Rusty Wallace fan and shifted to Tony Stewart and when he retired I don’t have a particular driver. I like all of them.”

Megan Watts said she has been a Cindric fan since he started racing and would be at the track Sunday to watch him win the Cookout Southern 500.

Watts, in addition to the two die-cast vehicles in her back, also had a bag of candy to give Cindric to celebrate his birthday — Monday.

That bag of candy, Cindric said, would save him and the team a stop at a store to pick up some candy which, he said, goes well with hydration while behind the wheel of the race car.

Saturday’s outing was far from Cindric’s first and likely far from his last.

“We do appearance all over the country, greeting race weekends and getting people all excited and getting people over to Discount Tire stores,” Cindric said. “It’s always great to see people before we get rolling on the race track.”

“I think everybody has a different reason why they go to the racetrack. With families and kids it might be a driver they follow. It’s not all Austin Cindric fans, it may be NASCAR fans who want to do something before the weekend gets started,” he said.

The line for a Cindric autograph grew shortly after he arrived and Discount Tire Manager Stephen Davis hustled out bottles of water for those in line and in need.

Cindric, who has one pole, two wins and 18 top 10 finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series, echoed the sentiment most drivers have about the track.

“Darlington’s definitely one of the most challenging and dynamic race tracks we have on the schedule — from a tire wear standpoint, from the shape of the racetrack, from how it races and how you’re expected to race it, you have to have every piece of the puzzle,” Cindric said.

One of the puzzle pieces inevitably turns out to the “Darlington Stripe” where the car briefly encounters one of the track’s walls. Most of the cars running on the track are likely to be striped before the race is over.

As of Saturday morning, the car was pristine but, Cindric said, that was not likely to last.

“I’m sure there will be one,” he said of a Darlington Stripe.

As for winning, “that’s why I’m here,” Cindric said.