FONTANA, Calif. — Austin Cindric followed up his Daytona 500 victory by earning his first career pole in the NASCAR Cup series Saturday at Auto Club Speedway during a tumultuous debut for the new practice and qualifying format at intermediate tracks.
Cindric posted the fastest average lap speed in his Team Penske Ford at 174.647 mph, holding off Erik Jones (174.157 mph) and capping an eventful morning for NASCAR’s first practice and qualifying session on a 2-mile oval with its Next Gen cars. Several drivers spun and several others crashed while learning how to control the Next Gen car on new tires amid gusty winds.
“There’s so much learning going on, and obviously it’s all happening really fast,” said the 23-year-old Cindric, who earned his first career Cup victory at Daytona. “As a driver, you can’t be distracted by the crashes, the mistakes. … I learned all I needed to do and had to go apply it, (but) there were a lot of guys that had some pretty rough days, and it puts a lot of…
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