Why RCR picked Brown, who remains committed to Supercars
Despite announcing a NASCAR Cup Series debut with Richard Childress Racing, Will Brown has reaffirmed his commitment to Supercars.
On the eve of the Perth SuperSprint, Brown’s drive with RCR to join the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series including Cam Waters at the Toyota SaveMart 350 at Sonoma on June 9 became official.
With both Brown and Waters following former and current Supercars rivals Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki, who all raced in America last year, many fans fear the best drivers are looking away from Supercars.
However, Brown said these “negative comments” are a “little disappointing” to read.
The current Supercars championship leader and Triple Eight Race Engineering driver took the Facebook comments section to pledge his commitment to Australia’s biggest series.
“It is a little disappointing reading the negative comments saying Supercars drivers want to leave the sport,” Brown wrote on social media.
“Lets get the facts straight, I will be racing Supercars for a long time as I love it but I would love to add a couple of NASCAR races each year whether we are doing 12 or 20 weekends a year.
“The more races I can do the better I will be.
“I would say yes to doing IndyCar or anything as you get to compare yourself to the best in the world.
“Supercars have acknowledged we aren’t doing enough racing and are going to rectify that, but that’s hard to do overnight.”
Brown continued in another comment, likening the drive to when he was dovetailing Supercars commitments with TCR last year.
“I have no plan on moving over there (America) I want to compare myself to the best like I did racing World TCR,” he replied to a comment.
“Although it would be awesome to do the supercar championship and then add a couple of nascar races each year.”
In the statement announcing the drive, Brown spoke about how special and rare the chance to race in NASCAR was.
“It’s just an incredible opportunity to be able to come out and race at the highest level in America,” said Brown.
“I am extremely thankful to Richard Childress and everyone at Richard Childress Racing for the opportunity.
“I’ve been interested in NASCAR since I started racing Supercars, and even more so since the recent wave of success that some international drivers have had crossing over into the NASCAR Cup Series.”
Last year Brown and Kostecki, plus other Erebus Motorsport team members including George Commins, Tom Moore and Barry Ryan went to America to spend a race weekend with RCR.
Fittingly RCR star Kyle Busche ended up winning in front of them at Gateway.
Whilst Kostecki raced for RCR at Indianapolis, Brown also extended his relationship with the team later in the year by substituting for the reigning Supercars champion at a World Racing League event at COTA alongside Busch and Austin Dillon.
At that race Brown impressed Richard Childress so much, he was keen to see what he could do in NASCAR.
“Will Brown has had success racing in Australia and New Zealand and we’re looking forward to having him race with RCR in the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet,” said Childress.
“I’ve stayed in touch with Will since he came over in December to race with us, and he has proven to be a disciplined and passionate racer.
“His start with RCR is a continuation of a long-standing investment that RCR has made in finding and honing talent and looking beyond U.S. Motorsports.”
The first five dates of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season have also been revealed.
The Daytona 500 will be held on February 16, while the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte will be staged on May 25.
Atlanta has been locked in for June 28, while the season finale Championship Weekend will be at Phoenix from October 31-November 2.
image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography
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