Austin Cindric and Kyle Larson are moving forward after last week's wreck at Atlanta Motor Speedway. According to the Team Penske driver, they are on the same page.
Cindric addressed the incident Wednesday during a session with media members. He said that he and Larson had talked about the moment in which the Hendrick Motorsports driver pinched him up into the wall and sparked a multi-car incident.
"Talking about it doesn't un-wreck my race car, but I think we're on the same page as to what the expectations are moving forward racing together," Cindric said. "It's about all I can influence is talking about it.
"Look, I hope to race Kyle and I certainly have a lot of respect. I know if I want to win in this series, I'm certainly going to have to race against him a lot more."
The wreck occurred on Lap 258 of last weekend's Cup Series race. Larson moved up the track from the lead as Cindric attempted to pass him on the outside. The Team Penske driver hit the outside wall and then rebounded into William Byron.
The No. 2 Team Penske Ford and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet both slid toward the inside SAFER barrier before making contact. Byron and Cindric finished 27th and 28th, respectively. Larson finished third.
"That was definitely my fault, for sure," Larson said during an appearance on Corey LaJoie's "Stacking Pennies" podcast. "I had that run and I just wanted to take it and there was a moment where I thought I was clear. It was going to be tight.
"I heard 'Clear' and then my angle gets bad and now I can start to feel him there, and I'm like, 'I'm tight.' It was too late, and I squeezed him in the fence big time."
The wreck at Atlanta marked the second time that Cindric had a race-winning car but failed to achieve his goal. He was wrecked on the final lap of the Daytona 500 after leading 59 laps. He then led 47 laps at Atlanta before the contact with the wall ruined his race.
One solace for Cindric is that he leads all Cup Series drivers in earned stage points. He has 30 stage points through two races. Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano are second with 28. This has helped Cindric move to fourth in the Cup Series standings.