- Richard Childress Racing began working with engineers on Supercars teams about three years ago
- Cars in NASCAR and Australian Supercars share many similarities, making for easier transition between the series for drivers.
- More teams are looking Down Under for potential talent to bring to the States.
Shane van Gisbergen’s surprise NASCAR Cup victory in the inaugural Chicago street course race suddenly turned the spotlight on Australia’s Supercars, but the series’ talent pool isn’t a new revelation to team owner Richard Childress.
Childress began working on a limited basis with engineers on Supercars teams about three years ago due to the similarity between NASCAR’s Next Gen car and those raced in Australia.
Richard Childress Racing engineer Andrew Dickinson formerly worked in the Supercars Series and has been the communication bridge between the Welcome, North Carolina-based team and the Supercars organizations. And when it comes to Brodie Kostecki, well, Childress met him about two years ago.
“We were looking to bring him (over) last year and the timing wasn’t right with his schedule and our schedule, plus it was the first year on these (Next Gen) cars,” Childress says about Kostecki, who is scheduled to make his NASCAR debut at Indianapolis in the No. 33 Chevrolet fielded by RCR.
“Now, we feel like we’re set enough to take him and run him at Indy.”
Aussies at Indy
Childress noted the plans to race Kostecki this year were finalized long before Justin Marks announced that van Gisbergen would drive the Project 91 Chevrolet at Chicago. In May, Kyle Busch and Kostecki tested RCR’s V8 Supercar at Virginia International Raceway.
“When we first went out, I think he had me covered by about two seconds a lap and … by the end of the day, we actually ran times that were real comparable and right on top of his,” Busch says about the road course venture.
“It just took me a while to get used to those cars and what they are and how you can really attack corners. Just various driving techniques that those cars take, but I think those guys are all very good at what they do. They really understand the heavy stock car feel and basis for these road courses.
“Hopefully, I can lean on him and learn a lot from him and have some time in the sim and stuff like that with him that will allow us to be better off when we get there (Indy) as well and better prepared.”
Kostecki currently leads the Repco Supercars Championship standings by 41 points over Erebus Motorsports teammate Will Brown. Van Gisbergen, with four victories, is third in the standings, 54 points behind Kostecki, who possesses three wins.
Previous Work Experience
However, the 25-year-old Kostecki hasn’t confined his racing efforts to Australia and New Zealand. In 2011, he competed in the United States in the USAC Ford Focus Series, collecting 27 feature victories and three national championships.
At age 15, Kostecki became the first non-American to win at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, claiming victory in a UARA Late Model Series race. Kostecki also has competed in 16 ARCA Menards Series East events, earning two poles, and one top-five and four top-10 finishes.
Even though Kostecki has some oval experience, Team Penske NTT IndyCar Series driver Scott McLaughlin believes those are the tracks that will present the greatest challenge to the Supercars regulars who move their careers to the United States.
“I mean, three years in Indy Cars, the little different techniques … it’s taken some time, I feel like I’m cracking the code a little bit,” McLaughlin says.
However, if the Australian drivers come to the United States with the “right attitude and approach it like a sponge,” soaking up everything, then they’ll be successful, McLaughlin says.
Brodie Kostecki has experience racing in the States. Here, he gets set to run in a K&N Pro Series race at Iowa Speedway in 2014.
“They know it’s going to be very tough,” he continued.
“I think if Shane does make the switch, I think it’s going to take some time, but I think out of anyone that I know, I think he’s the most diverse and able to make that change pretty successful.”
Van Gisbergen has notified his Supercars team owner that he intends to move to NASCAR in 2024.
“He’s been caught by the bug, and I was very similar,” McLaughlin says. “As soon as I came to America for the first time, I was like, ‘Wow! I’ve got to be here.’ It’s a very easy bug to get. It’s something I can fully understand.”
Forerunner from Down Under
McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, and Kostecki are three drivers that have taken advantage of the door opened my Australian Marcos Ambrose.
In 2006, Ambrose entered the Craftsman Truck Series full time. A year later he moved into the Xfinity Series where during a seven-year period he won five races, earned four poles, nine top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.
Australian Marcos Ambrose spent seven years racing in NASCAR.
Ambrose began his Cup career in 2008 and won two races in that series, both at Watkins Glen, while driving for Richard Petty Motorsports. At the end of 2014, with 18 top-five and 46 top-10 finishes on his racing resume in NASCAR’s Cup Series, Ambrose decided to return to Australia.
It wasn’t before he helped open the United States racing door for McLaughlin.
McLaughlin had heard “whispers” that Penske was entering the Supercar Series, so he left Australia and headed for the NASCAR race weekend in Loudon, New Hampshire, in 2014.
That weekend he was Ambrose’s guest. He told him he wanted to race in the United States and asked what he needed to do to make his desire a reality. Ambrose put McLaughlin in touch with Team Penske President Tim Cindric. The two corresponded and about a year later when Penske entered the Supercar Series, Cindric contacted McLaughlin.
McLaughlin’s success with Penske’s Supercar Series team led to his ride with the organization in the United States. He initially thought he would take the NASCAR route due to his Supercars background. However, when he was asked if he was interested in Team Penske’s open-wheel operation he jumped at the opportunity.
Current IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin celebrated a win in the 2020 Supercars Championship.
“It’s just completely different to what I’ve done before,” McLaughlin says about open-wheel racing. “I know NASCAR would be completely different (too), but the opportunity to have a few more off weeks and still live in America with my family, enjoy life over here, but also race at the highest level, those were big takes for me.
“I would love to have a crack at NASCAR come time, but you’ve just got to wait your turn.”
More Australian drivers could appear on the team rosters in the future.
“I think people knew what we could do and how competitive our racing is down under but being able to see it with the data and watch Shane’s race and my racing, basically, in front of your own eyes makes a huge difference,” McLaughlin says.
Childress plans to travel to Australia in November to “check everything out.”
“We’ve got working relationships with one of the top teams over there,” Childress says.
“Also, our drivers have been invited to go over there and race. That’s why I’m going over there is to see first-hand, meet, sit down and talk, and understand more (about the series). Andrew is a key player in us working with the Australians.”
Richard Childress.
Childress says the Supercars Series is building a new car that will be “real similar” to NASCAR’s current car.
“Our drivers are learning from that car and their drivers will learn from our car,” Childress says.
This isn’t NASCAR’s first venture into Australia and vice versa. The Goodyear NASCAR 500 at the new $54 million, 1.119-mile oval Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, Australia, was held in February 1988. It marked the first time a NASCAR event had been held outside North America.
Those competing in the event included Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett, Michael Waltrip and Dave Marcis. Bonnett won the event that included Australian Touring Car drivers Allan Grice, Kiwi Jim Richards, and Dick Johnson. The previous year, Grice qualified for the Coca-Cola 600, becoming the first Australian to compete in a NASCAR Cup race.
Read the full article here