Give Richard Childress Racing credit. It knows a good thing when it sees it.
On Tuesday, just two weeks after Shane van Gisbergen shocked the NASCAR Cup Series field with his win for Trackhouse Racing at the Grant Park 220 Chicago street race, RCR announced that it will field another Repco Supercars (formerly Australian V8 Supercars Championship) driver for a one-off road-course effort.
Brodie Kostecki will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the Verizon 200 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Aug. 13. Kostecki is currently second in the Repco Supercars points standings (van Gisbergen is fourth in that series’ standings).
“I am thrilled to be making my NASCAR Cup Series debut at the Brickyard,” said Kostecki. “It’s an honor to compete at such an iconic venue and against some of the biggest names in motorsports. I’m incredibly grateful to RCR for giving me this opportunity, and I’m determined to make the most of it.”
Kostecki is no stranger to racing in the U.S.
He moved to the United States in 2011 to compete in the USAC Ford Focus Series, winning three national championships and earning 27 feature wins. At just 15 years old, Kostecki won his first Late Model Series race at Rockingham Speedway in 2013, topping current NASCAR drvers Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace and becoming he first racer from outside the U.S. to win at the track.
The 25-year-old Kostecki has made a total of 16 starts in the ARCA Menards Series East, earning two poles, one top-five and four top-10 finishes.
“Brodie Kostecki is a young, promising driver and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet with Richard Childress Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course,” said Richard Childress, chairman and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. “Brodie’s background in the V8 Supercar Championship will suit him well in NASCAR Cup Series racing, especially on Indy’s road course configuration.
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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