Will Brown the latest Supercars star slated to make NASCAR Cup debut
Richard Childress Racing officials confirmed to Motorsport.com on Saturday they are in discussions with Brown to drive the No. 33 Chevrolet in the June 9 race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
While the deal is not yet completed, an RCR spokesperson said it was “close” to being finalized with an accompanying official announcement.
Brown, 25, would join Shane van Gisbergen, Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters as Supercars standouts who have made NASCAR national series starts in the past two seasons.
Brown leads the Supercars standings so far this season with three victories for the Triple Eight Race Engineering Red Bull team. He has eight career wins in 108 starts.
“I don’t know a lot of detail about it, but I know it’s a good possibility that it’s happening,” said RCR Cup driver Austin Dillon, whose grandfather, Richard Childress, owns the team. “I don’t know that it’s completed yet.”
Brown and RCR have some previous experience racing together. He joined Dillon and Kyle Busch as a last-minute fill-in for Kostecki in a World Racing League event at Circuit of the Americas in December.
“Me, him and Kyle were kind of teammates on that deal. It was fun,” Dillon said. “It was a last-minute thing. He came in and kind of jumped in there for us.”
“Obviously, those guys are really solid with their car. They have a subtle difference in their driving style, and they use the clutch a little bit more. It’s what they do to keep the tires on those cars.
“Anytime you can kind of learn for those guys and make the program better, I think it’s good.”
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Last July, van Gisbergen, 34, became the first driver in more than 60 years to win a Cup race in his debut when he took victory in the inaugural Chicago Street Race driving for Trackhouse Racing.
The victory served as the instigator for the Kiwi to move to NASCAR competition this season, where he is running full-time in the Xfinity Series while also running part-time in Cup races.
Kostecki, 26, made 16 starts in what is now the ARCA East series in 2013 and 2014 and made his Cup debut last year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Waters, 29, has made a pair of starts in the Truck Series this year with ThorSport Racing, most recently in Saturday night’s race at Kansas Speedway.