Brown and Waters qualify for NASCAR Cup Series debut

Will Brown and Cam Waters have qualified for their NASCAR Cup Series debut tomorrow, but neither Aussie had an easy run through the group qualifying stages.

Brown will start the race in 24th and Waters 31st.

With the field split into two for the first part of the qualifying, the first goal was to make the top five, and both the Supercars drivers missed the mark.

An impatient Brown battled a throttle problem during his session and set a best time of 74.045s, the 12th fastest.

Waters was looking for more rear grip for his final run, chasing more eight-tenths to make the top five in Group B and the final 10 in qualifying after some adjustments to his Mustang. His best time of 74.366s was set on the chequered flag.

“The #60 was a lot better than in practice,” Waters said after qualifying, “but I under drove the first two corners on the tyre while I was working out what car I actually had under me.

“A 1:14.0 was me tapped I reckon and the track is so ballsy to drive.”

Joey Logano will start the race from the pole, with Tyler Reddick alongside him in the front row.

The Cup Series race is at 5:30 am tomorrow.

NASCAR Cup Series Grid, Sonoma

1st – Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
2nd – Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
3rd – Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
4th – Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
5th – Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6th – William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7th – Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet
8th – Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
9th – Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet
10th – Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
11th – A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
12th – Michael McDowell, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
13th – Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
14th – Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
15th – Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
16th – Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
17th – Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
18th – Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
19th – Noah Gragson, No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
20th – Zane Smith, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
21st – Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
22nd – Harrison Burton, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
23rd – Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
24th – Will Brown, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
25th – Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
26th – Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
27th – Justin Haley, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
28th – Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
29th – Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
30th – Ryan Preece, No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
31st – Cam Waters, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
32nd – Josh Berry, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
33rd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
34th – Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
35th – Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
36th – Kaz Grala, No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford
37th – John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
38th – Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

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