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Supercars Championship

Motorsport

Thoughts on Toyota officially entering the Supercars Championship with Walkinshaw Andretti United under its famed Supra model to rival the Camaro & Mustang from 2026

by Sports Benches

It’s been a long time coming for a new manufacturer to finally enter in one of motorsport’s most prominent competitions in Australia as Toyota will enter the Supercars Championship from 2026, with Walkinshaw Andretti United being their works team. The model/chassis Toyota will race will be the Supra sports car under its 5.0 litre Hilux Truck engine from the Dakar Rally where they’ll go head-to-head with Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang.

First of all, thanks to Toyota Australia and its performance arm Gazoo Racing on trying their hand in Supercars. They have an iconic history with Motorsport here before with the likes of Neal Bates & Coral Taylor (although her daughter Molly is more of a Subaru person) that passes on to Harry Bates today in the Australian Rally Championship. Plus, they’ve also built a good brand of grassroots Motorsport with their one-make series over the last decade that produced future Supercars stars and race winners involving its compact 86 sports car.

I’m sure these youngsters competing today would love to hop on a Supra V8 Supercar one day and WAR is providing a great pathways platform to help them towards achieve that goal by competing at the top level of racing in Australia.

Furthermore, if anyone like Chaz Mostert or Kiwi Ryan Wood would like to have a crack in NASCAR across the US – Toyota can help them out to arrange at least a road course or Trucks oval race deal to begin with either for Gibbs or any of Toyota’s satellite Cup, Xfinity or Truck Series teams.

It remains to see what Toyota can do to find a second Supercars team in order to support Walkinshaw. Maybe a small-customer run team would be an ideal candidate like PremiAir Racing or Team 18 for Toyota’s first Supercars attempt.

Other than that, we thought Toyota could be the perfect 3rd manufacturer when they launched the TRD Australia performance division back in 2007 thanks to their Aurion sedan. Yes, that high performance sedan may not be exactly be V8 but it still gave some excellent competition that would send shockwaves to Holden (Commodore) and Ford (Falcon). But it was unfortunately short lived by the end of 2008 off the back of poor sales and the global financial crisis.

Also the timing wasn’t right either even before the 2000s when the large Toyota Avalon sedan went out at the time with V8 Supercars being simply happy with just Holden & Ford whose arch-rivalry was so synonymous with our Aussie motorsport fans that goes back to the 60s-70s via the Australian Touring Car Championship.

But that doesn’t mean Toyota would want stay away from being fast altogether as you can see with their World Endurance Championship Le Mans entry over the last decade as well as their return to World Rallying that marked the steady rise of the Toyota Gazoo brand. Now it’s the right time for them to their Supra into the fray against two of America’s iconic muscle sports cars at our race tracks including the famed Mountain in Bathurst like the (Chevy) Camaro and (Ford) Mustang.

We wish Toyota Australia and Walkinshaw the best of luck on-track and also off-track with their future performance-oriented editions together for the road car business like the big Tundra pick-up & that sporty compact Corolla hatchback for example. 

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Thoughts on Triple 8 Supercars driver Will Brown’s NASCAR plans for next season

by Sports Benches

Before the weekend, current Triple 8 Supercars driver Will Brown says that he’s sure to come back for more cameo NASCAR races next year. However, at the same time he also said that he won’t be looking to move into the US full-time anytime soon like his predecessor Shane Van Gisbergen – that’s fine by him since he’s happy living here. 

He still has a part-time job at his family car dealership business while still retaining his top ride where Supercars races tend to race more than 12 events throughout the year, so still lots of time to keep him busy on & off track. 

If he wants to go back to NASCAR when it comes to cameo events, he would still like to do road courses with two including an Xfinity race for the first time rather than one at Sonoma and Chicago. 

But no word yet though whether if he would like to do oval racing at this stage & if he wants to do an oval race like on a short track to begin with, then he would be in a Trucks car like SVG (Indy) and Cam Waters (Martinsville & Kansas) did over the last 12 months.

For now, Will is having the time of his life right now leading the Supercars drivers’ points going into the Sandown endurance race in the next few weeks. 

Both a Bathurst 1000 win and a championship title would mean so much to him and while he may not be willing to leave his life behind here, there’s always others who would love to race NASCAR – don’t forget that when you got Cam Waters (No.6 Tickford Racing Ford) as the next in line after SVG. 

I don’t know about Brodie Kostecki right now after a tough off-season when he also made his Cup debut at the Indy road course race for Childress last year, but we’ll have to wait and see having just announced his switch from Erebus’s Chevy for Dick Johnson Racing’s Ford next year.

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Thoughts on Brodie Kostecki set for a Supercars switch from Erebus to Dick Johnson Racing in 2025 and how this impacts his NASCAR plans if he wants to race there again

by Sports Benches

We haven’t heard much of Brodie Kostecki’s NASCAR goals since his off-season stoush with Erebus Motorsport so far in 2024 as he won’t be coming back to race in the US at least for now according to Paul Morris a few months ago around April.

If it wasn’t for that off-season saga, then he would’ve done a couple more Cup races this year under Erebus with the support of Richard Childress Racing rather than directly for Childress as a third partial Cup team.

However, his pending Supercars move to Dick Johnson Racing next year could shake things up a bit when Anton De Pasquale just confirmed his 2025 ride yesterday as a replacement for Mark Winterbottom at Team 18. He too will switch over to Chevy having last driven a GM brand chassis formerly known as Holden back in 2020 with Erebus. 

Speaking of Erebus, looks like Kostecki is going the other way round and possibly take the spot of another Erebus alumni as the last time Kostecki raced a Ford car was back in 2017 in the Super2 feeder series for Matt Stone Racing.

If he wishes to come back racing in the US, then he would be better off racing for a Ford-powered NASCAR team unlike Richard Childress Racing – who previously viewed him as a great squad member thanks to the team’s Australian connections with Erebus. Both teams race Chevy in their respective race series and it’s highly unlikely RCR would want someone who is racing that isn’t Chevy. 

Plus, Will Brown raced for RCR back in June at Sonoma anyway as sure he’ll be given a warm welcome back in 2025 if Will wishes to make his NASCAR goals serious in the path like we’ve saw with 2025’s Trackhouse full-time Cup driver & former Triple 8 team-mate Shane Van Gisbergen.

Maybe Xfinity would be a good start again still part-time but RSS or AM Racing would suit him well or a good Trucks ride wouldn’t be bad either. Yes, he made his debut in a Cup car for Childress last year much like SVG also in a road course but at Indianapolis rather than Chicago. But again, he’s had a tough first half of the season or off-season as his proven Supercars track record should not go unnoticed. Therefore, Xfinity or even Trucks would be the way to go if Kostecki feels ready to race in the US again before he can think about Cup when the time is right; Maybe he’s happy living here with Supercars after all.

I hope Kostecki is well wherever he ends up ahead of next year’s Supercars season after his unexpected few months off where things will have to take time before we can see the best of him again from 2022-23.

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SpeedSeries August 2024: Catch up Interview with Dream Racing’s Jackson Rice from Trans-Am Australia – No.7 Ford Mustang

by Sports Benches

Yes, SpeedSeries so far this year may have been completely different compared to 2022-23, especially at a time during the mixed paid/free TV experiment on Stan and Nine (via 9Gem and 9Go) before Motorsport Australia took back the rights at season’s end for the competition to return on Seven once again. 

But that doesn’t mean SpeedSeries can be completely forgotten when times have changed since then as fortunate to catch up with one of the drivers competing there via the competition’s series of race categories in Trans-Am Australia. 

His name is Jackson Rice who currently races the No.7 Ford Mustang for Dream Racing & hails from Albury-Wodonga – right in between the NSW-Victoria border.

This interview is available both in written and video/audio form below:

SpeedSeries/Trans-Am so far of 2024

1. First of all, it’s great to hear from you as it’s been a long while for me to catch up since the end of last season. How is SpeedSeries going on right now compared to the last 1-2 years?

Really good, I feel like the Seven Network coverage has been fantastic this year with the support of Seven (via 7mate on TV) and the 7 + app. For us personally, it gave us fantastic value to our sponsors & our supporters. It also gave us track time and vision & I think it really boosted our (Trans Am Australia) category that brought really good incentive for other people to join us, especially going into 2025.

2. How much do you miss the International drivers coming here as well as the S5000 open-wheel category?

I think this year’s Bathurst International event is the last year they’ve proposed (with the event not returning next year) & I think the International drivers we have coming here are awesome. They brought a different perspective of class that gave an International and world view of the categories they’ve competed (from Sports cars to World Touring Cars & the likes).

The S5000 open-wheel category are awesome machines & it’s said those guys (the drivers who competed last year) couldn’t have the numbers (on the grid) to compete. But I think all those categories (like the GT World Challenge, GT4 Australia Series & TCR Australia) with the organisers involved are really cool to watch. It’s a shame it’s going to be the last hurrah that they (the S5000 open-wheel organisers) won’t continue with it.

3. Speaking of the journey you’ve had so far this season, what was your 2024 like so far if you can describe it in just a few words?

It’s been positive with a huge learning curve. So yes, it’s been an all-round positive.

4. I looked at your Facebook/social media page lately & there’s a quite a few related to Supercars, how much preparation of you driving these race kind of touring cars or sedans have benefited your Super2 opportunity? 

Massively…I think the Trans-Am is a fantastic category that opens doors to a lot of avenues including working towards Supercars & those high-end performance categories. 

So Trans-Am where it’s at right now has fantastic value with some of the guys in there who are true professionals that previously raced in V8 Supercars before through co-driving (at Endurance Races like the Bathurst 1000) or full-time.

Guys like myself – who are young and trying to make a name for our ourselves – I think that mix (of both youth and experience) presents really well for those who are scouting for talent including Super2 (Supercars main feeder category), and it’s been a massive help for me to step  from a Trans-Am into a Super2 by driving a high-powered rear wheel drive race car.

5. Looking at the present when it comes to Trans-Am, what would be the No.1 thing you wished you could’ve done any better & how you will apply this to your next set of Trans-Am races later this year in November?

I think the biggest thing we like to improve on is finishing our races. 

We have very consistent pace with the guys at Dream Racing giving me a consistent race car but we’ve been really unfortunate to have some mechanical failures which sort of put us a bit on a damper with our season’s race results. 

But we had a couple of podiums where we’ve been consistently inside the Top 8 or 6 before we were able to finish consistently to then drag more podiums at the end of the race and not having a DNF towards the end of the 2024 season would probably make a big difference for us.

6. Other than Trans-Am wait until November, do you have any other races you got lined up like the TA2 Muscle Car Series you’ve competed in the past?

I’m planning to, I like to race some more other than the usual Trans-Am. We’ve been fortunate with our sponsors and budget this year, so I won’t definitely rule it out to come back and compete in the TA2 events to keep me busy & in the seat for the next round at Bathurst in Trans-Am.

Being present at Sandown Raceway while talking a couple of other race tracks across Australia

Other than his ongoing Trans-Am season, there’s more to life from Jackson who is currently helping out at Sandown Raceway this weekend where we will pick it up from here.

1. Great to hear you’re in Sandown for the weekend, I was wondering if it was an different event you’re competing there?

I’m just down here with a couple of guys who are new drivers that come in to the team we compete for racing such as meeting them before they compete on the new Toyota 86 races. But I’m business where I don’t have to drive which is alright.

2. How’s the atmosphere like at Sandown Raceway?

It’s fantastic! I love coming to the Victorian VMRC (Victorian Motor Racing Championships). They have good grassroots & state-level racing with a great variety of categories & it’s really good being involved & see grassroots racing. To come back especially post-COVID, the atmosphere’s really good.

Pause

Link of the weekend’s events LIVE and on-demand on BlendLine TV’s YouTube Channel here.

3. Speaking of Sandown, I hear they are going to knock the place down while looking to build a new race track next to Avalon Airport. I was wondering if this was true?

I’m unsure at the moment. I know there were proposed plans (of Sandown being knocked down for housing) but unsure if it’s going ahead. But Sandown is such an iconic venue that in the end, there was so much support behind it to keep it now that I think it will be pretty harsh to get rid of.

4. I heard there’s a different SpeedSeries category event going on at Phillip Island within Victoria in the GT World Challenge as wondering if they’re hosting this alone or a part of the main event support bill?

Yeah, I believe it’s a standalone event with the GT Festival with just GT3, GT4 and other Production Car categories.

Pause

Link to watch the GT Festival weekend race at Phillip Island also on GT World’s YouTube channel here.

5. With Wakefield Park over in Goulburn, they were also being under threat at one stage due to the noise but now they still get to keep the track?  

It’s interesting that they’ve come back and made provisional changes to keep the noise down. I think they’ll definitely come back to run events with no issue. With the noise restrictions, I think they’re going to run less events and it will just be selected to certain race cars to make sure that they don’t break that noise barrier they’ve set.

His best moment of racing and even the Olympics also in 2024

And other than racing cars, what’s your favourite moment of 2024 so far across motorsport and even the Olympics when our Aussie team had their best campaign recently at Paris? I’m also wondering which Olympic sport you’d be best competing in if it was for gold?

I think our podium at The Bend Motorsports Park (South Australian Round between May 31-June 2) was a great achievement for us & the team. We had real pace we showed that we competed with the big teams like GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), TFH & The Racing Academy.

So that’s been a fantastic sort of point for me personally.

Then you know throughout the Olympics, the Australians really had our best campaign at Paris 2024. So it’s really cool to be Aussie and to be pretty proud when your country does well.

And for myself if I was to compete in a sport, that’s a hard one, I enjoy doing water sports so maybe I’ll probably go with Rowing since being by the water was pretty cool. I think the guys have endurance who use a lot of upper body & core strength which a lot of stuff really translates to racing cars, so something similar I reckon I would give it a crack.

Post-Notes

We wish Jackson all the best of luck as he will be back for the back-to-back November Trans-Am Australia races at Bathurst and Adelaide. He is so someone who loves watching NASCAR, especially on a Monday morning with the Cup races.

As said, if you want to keep a good eye on his driving progress – Seven & 7 + is the place to be for everything SpeedSeries.

You can also follow him and his Dream Racing team across social media:

And yes, He sure gave a wonderful shoutout also to none other than our Aussie own Leigh Diffey, who is set make his full-time commentary debut in the NASCAR Cup Series for the US NBC network, starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona tomorrow morning our time at 9.30am AEST. You can tune in live on Fox Sports via Foxtel/Kayo Sports back here who has the live local NASCAR TV rights.

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NASCAR News Today: Top 3 this week with plans of hosting an International Cup race, What it means for Australia? and 2 x current Cup racers set for extra racing gigs overseas

by Sports Benches

While the on-air talent and silly season rumour talk is ongoing, there has been some progress as of late when it comes to NASCAR’s International ambitions. Off the back of several International drivers coming here over the last 1-2 years mainly on road courses, they would like to hold an International Cup series race as early as next year. We’ll find out where that might be? And what does it mean for Australia.

If hosting NASCAR races off shore isn’t enough, we got two Cup racers looking to get some extra race time elsewhere that will appeal to local race track promoters and race fans. There’s one who is set for a one-off outing in an International NASCAR-sanctioned series coming up soon while another is set for a return to Australia to race some sprint cars like most other US racers when their respective seasons usually finishes in November.

Time will tell but for now, great to see the sport taking some right steps in order to promote to stock car racing worldwide rivalling Formula 1, MotoGP & IndyCar .

NASCAR’s International Cup Series plans update this week beginning with Mexico and Canada

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule hasn’t been fully released yet other than a couple of important races and some of the in-tournament summer events that will be on both Amazon Prime & TNT – such as February’s season-opening Daytona 500, May’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Championship 4 Finale in Phoenix in early November.

While there’s still ongoing talk as to which of the current races will stay or go, there’s no surprise that NASCAR wants to host at least one if not two Cup races outside the USA. However, those two overseas races they’re looking at will likely be just within the North American border for a start.

We’ve heard so far that Mexico City in Mexico and Montreal in Canada are the key destinations, although Montreal would more likely be a realistic target for 2026. 

NASCAR has been there and done that before in the mid 2000s-early 2010s with the second-tier series with Mexico City between 2005-2008 followed by Montreal between 2007-2012 where both of these venues are usually home to their respective Formula 1 Grand Prix races like the Mexico City & Canadian Grand Prix.

I, for one, would like to see this happen with the sport doing an excellent job on being serious about their International footprint. It’s been going on over the last few years alongside a couple of International drivers coming in to race for a couple of occasions, especially on road courses where these drivers have been usually specialists there for so long.

What’s not going away though is taking some Cup events off on Sundays to accommodate their International ambitions, even if it’s going to be held in Mexico City and/or Montreal. 

It’s the best part business and fan-centric wise of finishing the race weekend as always with most of their viewers coming from across the county in the US while some do come from Canada as well as Europe. So they’re happy where they’re are when their main focus these days is the West Coast market & race day starts tend to fall in the early afternoon rather than putting it at midday like it used to be or else fans who live in the West Coast will miss out the start first thing at 9am PST.

What does it mean for NASCAR in Australia? 

While we continue to see more and more of our Supercars drivers trying their hand in NASCAR since last year with New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen now racing the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing full-time, it looks like we won’t see a big NASCAR race weekend here anytime soon since they want to keep most of the focus locally and domestically across the USA.

Sure, never say never but it’s gonna be a long shot for management to consider in the rear view mirror. Yes, we also had an IndyCar race in the Gold Coast, QLD a long time ago until 2008. But don’t think IndyCar would also want to sacrifice its domestic audience either when racing only within the North and South America other than Toronto, Canada is the series’s only realistic International hotspots right now. 

We can always dream and even having an NASCAR-sanctioned Australian series would help just like they do to Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Europe. But we’ve always got Supercars and even SpeedSeries, so no room at all unfortunately in the meantime for NASCAR to sort out contracts with race tracks as well as suppling their fleet of stock cars to a customers wanting to take part here – which does cost the time of travel & $$$.

If NASCAR isn’t enough to keep you updated here when we all got work on a Monday morning unless you’re a big SVG fan of course in Xfinity level, there’s always highlights and replays to look back in the evening or in a few days whenever you can. Plus, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is coming to Perth at the end of this year to race in sprint cars – a discipline he knows all too well growing up while still racing some mid-week for fun.

Daniel Suarez to compete in a one-off race in Brazil for NASCAR’s sanctioned domestic series there

And lastly, another NASCAR Cup Series driver is going to get another race elsewhere – this time during the two-week break while the Olympics is on – in none other than current Trackhouse driver Daniel Suarez. He will arrive in Brazil next week to get married first with fiancé Julia Piquet, who is the sister of former NASCAR & Formula 1 driver (also Formula E champion) Nelson Piquet Jr. & daughter of 3 x Formula 1 champion Nelson Piquet. 

Then he’ll stay in Brazil a bit longer to compete on a one-off outing at Interlagos in São Paulo in NASCAR’s sanctioned Brazilian series on August 2-4 before they will return home together in Charlotte after this in time for the 2nd half season, with a Playoffs berth already sealed due to his win in Atlanta earlier this year (February).

Congratulations to Daniel on getting to marry the love of his life Julia while he’s able to score some extra race seat time at his future wife’s home soil in Brazil like he did during the Busch Clash weekend back in February at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the Mexico Series – a series he regularly competed a long time ago before he went on to make a name for himself in America in which he’s just been an naturalised citizen there last month. No doubt this will hopefully put him on the map when it comes to the upcoming Playoffs in the same way that helped him win his next Cup a couple of weeks later. He ended up 10th in drivers’ points two years ago off the back of his first ever Cup win at Sonoma back in June and what he needs to now is to close in on team-mate Ross Chastain to provide better competition for Trackhouse before looking at the top teams.

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Top 3 NASCAR news this week: Two Supercars drivers now confirmed for Sonoma next month, more merger teams talk & next year’s Coca Cola 600 event will no longer be on FOX

by Sports Benches

There’s a whole lot of NASCAR news you need to know including us Australian fans here including regular Supercars followers that is going to be huge over the next coming weeks and months to come. From Shane Van Gisbergen to Brodie Kostecki, two more Supercars drivers are now onboard on what is going to be their first real crack in NASCAR’s premier class next month on a road course at Sonoma Raceway. Then more silly season talk where 1-2 teams are in talks of selling off their charters in midst of a new long-term charter agreement & then if successful, they could still be involved in the sport with another team somewhere else. And one of the sport’s crown jewel races at the end of May during the big day of Motorsport alongside the Monaco Grand Prix & Indianapolis 500 will no longer be on free-to-air TV with a change of broadcasting hands and also a change of broadcasting view too where neither will be available on both TV & cable but only on streaming with a subscription.

Two Supercars racers are now off to Sonoma Raceway in California next month for their first tastes of NASCAR Cup Series Racing

So there we have it with not one but two Supercars racers from down under going Cup racing as Triple 8’s Will Brown and Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters will be racing at Sonoma Raceway in California early next month for the Toyota/Save Smart 350 event. What’s even better about it is that we have the Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday on that day during a Monday morning for most states, which is good news for those who regularly follow NASCAR here looking to take a rare day off & watch the full race with Brown & Waters in it when most of us need to work to support ourselves every day which is certainly impossible.

As per current Supercars affiliations, Brown who is currently racing Chevy for Triple Eight will pilot the No.33 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing in place of former Erebus team-mate Brodie Kostecki with sponsorship coming from Peter Adderton’s MobileX; Waters on the other hand via Tickford Racing’s strong ties with Ford will drive the No.60 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing alongside BlueForge Alliance backing with the AUKUS connections on it. Yes, Shane Van Gisbergen will also be there during the Sonoma weekend alongside his partner Jessica Dane – who still holds some shares in her family’s Triple Eight business despite moving to the US recently – but he will just be racing Xfinitys as usual in the No. 97 Chevy Camaro for Kaulig Racing. So not required by Kaulig or even Trackhouse to have SVG onboard unfortunately for this one alongside but we can all dream of seeing three Australian-NZ racers in NASCAR even if they’re all full-time together at some point in the near future.

It will be Brown’s NASCAR debut there after he earned great success on home soil such as his 2019 TCR Australia championship season with plenty of wins here and there at Supercars level. For Waters, he can also win Supercars races too many times before even though this year wasn’t the best so far here. However, he already made his first steps in NASCAR at Trucks level recently rather than take the risk & start at the top level with Kostecki and SVG where he made an underwhelming debut at Martinsville (same track he visited last year) last month before he finished 19th a few weeks later at Kansas despite some late drama with Layne Riggs, son of Scott Riggs, who was driving the No.38 Ford F-150 for Front Row Motorsports.

Look out for more Supercars drivers coming to the US soon where we all know Waters and even Brown would want to be at their best every week at Cup someday that would mean more NASCAR connections beyond drivers in Australia & in turn we could see a official NASCAR race here too but that idea is going to be a long, long time away unlike Mexico and Canada. For now, we wish them all the best next month as Brown and Waters will be resuming to their normal duties after this to achieve something that is unfinished business in Supercars later this year before we will find where they will go to next in the long run.

More silly season stuff on mergers with Front Row-Stewart Haas Racing & now Trackhouse looking to take over Kaulig Racing where both would then become four-car teams

Last week, we heard about Kaulig Racing wanting to sell a charter while Stewart-Haas is still looking to sell two charters at the same time but then merge with Front Row Motorsports to create a new four-car team. Now we are beginning to see some legs as Kaulig will merge with Trackhouse so Trackhouse can expand to four cars without having to buy a charter that will cost them $50 million & should the Front Row-Stewart Haas merger be true, Cole Custer would replace the Spire-bound Michael McDowell in the 34 and Chase Briscoe to replace the underperforming Harrison Burton at Wood Brothers Racing in the No.21.

So that means Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and even the No.38’s Todd Gilliland is staying with Ryan Preece being the odd man out whose performances is inconsistent for the most part unfortunately after being given another chance to prove himself in the current No.41 Ford for Stewart-Haas & he didn’t make much of a difference from here. Preece will be good at Xfinity level again with a good organisation or even accept another Cup lifeline at Rick Ware Racing which is going to be highly unlikely since he has no sponsorship. If SHR was to sell these two charters, one will go to Richard Childress Racing in order to go three full-time Cup cars and another would either be a satellite Toyota team in either 23XI Racing or Legacy Motor Club or even RFK Racing if they feel ready to go three cars and hire Riley Herbst who has his own family sponsorship $$$ to make this happen.

Regarding Trackhouse, bravo to Justin Marks on working around the tough charter climate by looking to take over another team in Kaulig Racing in order to expand his empire that would hopefully go even better on-track with a championship on his hands someday like he did to Chip Ganassi Racing three years ago. With four cars potentially coming into play, the No.1 will always be Ross Chastain while the No.99 will still be Daniel Suarez as long as the contract extension talks go well with SVG and Zane Smith coming in to complete the team’s expansion into Kaulig. We could also see Trackhouse enter Xfinity too where the pathway to the top level could be a lot clearer now for youngsters like 17-year-old Connor Zilisch coming in a few years time.

Image Reference: TaurusEmerald via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

What does it mean for Kaulig should they leave Cup racing? We all know they earned their way from the ground up at Xfinity Series level for many years with Blake Koch at the start before they made the step up over time including their first steps at the top level over the last 2-3 years when the sport introduced a brand new chassis which was the Gen7 model or the Next Gen Car. Yes, they had some moments along the way but now Kaulig is beginning to fade when AJ Allmendinger didn’t want to race on Sundays anymore by going back to Xfinity and suddenly they had to go back to the rotation driver line-up for the No.16 Chevy Camaro this season with no decent replacement drivers being lined up (SVG doesn’t count even though he’s tied under Trackhouse and won’t be dismissed that easily). Well, there is nothing they can do but to quit and give Trackhouse the greater control they need going into next year as this is right for them. Kaulig could still race Xfinity if they like on it own as long as they got a good driver pathway affiliation with Richard Childress Racing but then not so much at the end of the day & maybe see Matt Kaulig getting a board/executive role within Trackhouse. It’s gonna be hard to see them go when the team’s ambitions began to fade despite some good Top 15 results including some towards the front but sometimes you need to either be so serious at Cup level & be in to win with the right drivers & investment or else step aside if they cannot do it.

No more Coca Cola 600 on free-to-air TV next year with steaming-only giant Amazon Prime taking over from FOX

For the last several decades the Coca Cola 600 or the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway has been on free-to-air TV including FOX throughout the 2000s, 2010s and the early 2020s. Although FOX will continue airing the first-half Cup races under the new seven-year contract from next year alongside another full season of Trucks but the Coca Cola 600 race is no longer on the list whose season will end at the non-points All-Star race in North Wilkesboro Speedway instead. Next year’s running from here will be a new era where Amazon Prime will begin its five-race season at one of NASCAR crown jewel races with a completely new commentary team including new signing Dale Earnhardt Jr. & a completely different broadcast view where race fans would need to pay in order to watch the races from their phones/laptops/computers/tablets or via smart TV.

It won’t be the same when the FOX NASCAR crew will no longer be covering Cup racing there at all other than the Truck Series races having always been ever present since 2001. Off the back of their recent decision to shut down their daily RaceHub show, there’s not much they can do other than simply turning up on race days during the early months of the year that still includes the Daytona 500. Looks like they want to go for one last ride whose next contract expires in 2031 at the same time of the network’s expected 30th year anniversary association with NASCAR and then part ways after that from 2032.

As for Amazon Prime, good for them where they will get the chance to air the 600 race going forward that could lift the sport’s broadcast onto a whole new level that isn’t on free-to-air TV and cable whereas the big day of Motorsport on TV from next year would only be the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Although we could see FOX stay on a bit longer if they can get the IndyCar rights off NBC at the end of the season and they can continue airing one of the big day of racing with the Indy 500 rather than the Charlotte 600. I guess it’s early days though when the sport isn’t leaving cable just yet for another while likewise with the other major sporting leagues who also shares a strong emphasis on the streaming world too but wishing Amazon Prime all the best with their new broadcast team and a brand new announcer in place soon enough.

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Thoughts on Tickford’s Supercars driver Cam Waters making his NASCAR debut in Trucks for ThorSport next weekend at Martinsville

by Sports Benches

In April 2023, Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters made his way from Melbourne to the paper clip short track called Martinsville Speedway over in the US – having taken a closer look of Riley Herbst’s No.98 Ford Mustang Xfinity Series race car from Stewart-Haas Racing. Then he came back to America again as a spectator during the 2023 regular season finale at Daytona a few months ago and here he is now ready to expand his love of NASCAR this time as a race car driver where he will be returning to Martinsville next weekend by driving the No.66 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series.

It’s so fitting for Waters to begin his NASCAR debut at a place he first came there a year ago & there wouldn’t be any issues at all to begin his oval racing career since he will be racing on a short track/0.5 mile oval. If he wants to run superspeedways at some point, no problem. But he can go take part in the season-opening ARCA Menards Series round at Daytona in February next year (surely that won’t affect his Supercars commitments short-term) in order to pass the rookie orientation test & race on the big tracks as Shane Van Gisbergen (currently at Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series while still being tied up under Trackhouse) had to do 1-2 months ago regardless of his race result (an early crash sadly saw him limping down in 29th).

Looking at Waters’s ambitions with NASCAR, he’s almost age 30 with another good 10-15 years left as we also know that he is on RFK Racing’s radar who might as well give him a partial Cup ride later this year in the 3rd No.60 Ford Mustang race car for three races – most likely in the road course events like the Chicago Street Course & maybe one short oval one. He’d be a great long-term replacement there should the co-boss Brad Keselowski eventually calls it a day in the No.6 team or the team can see the potential 3rd charter happening to expand into three full-time Cup cars someday, but Xfinity would be a great start with a good midfield team like RSS & AM Racing who can give him the resources to run upfront and win races from there.

Now looking at his Supercars record, it’s not bad having finished 2nd twice via the Drivers’ Standings in the Supercars championship before back in 2020 and 2022 to both NZ drivers who now ply their trade in the US such as Scott McLaughlin (Dick Johnson Racing, now at Team Penske in IndyCar) and SVG (Triple Eight, now racing NASCARs full-time as above) respectively. Don’t forget he also finished 2nd twice at the Bathurst 1000 back in 2020-21 as well. Yes, he has won a couple of races there before but still has unfinished business though after an up and down start so far this Supercars season despite a good qualifying run last weekend at Albert Park that saw him win the pole award for Race 2. A Bathurst 1000 win would be great while catching up with the drivers’ standings in the hope of at least walking away with one series championship before he can think real big full-time in the US. For now, we wish him good luck as a Top 15-20 run would be a great start on debut.

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Thoughts on Three New Zealand airing NASCAR races live for free online this season with Shane Van Gisbergen set to begin his first full season in the US soon

by Sports Benches

Image Reference: Zach Catanzareti via Wikipedia, CC BY 2.0

You wouldn’t believe it by surprise as New Zealand will get live NASCAR coverage this season & it’s free to view too without a subscription where ThreeNow will stream every race of both Cup & Xfinity Series while continuing to one-hour highlights on Sundays through their CRC Motorsports show on the main Three TV channel. It’s brilliant timing ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen’s first full season racing NASCARs in the US starting soon, although the new racing season will return on Monday morning beginning with the non-points Busch Clash race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

As said, it’s exciting times for NZ’s own SVG who will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series including a few part-time Cup races with Kaulig Racing under loan development for the year from Team Trackhouse. Yes, he will have to race the ARCA main series opener at Daytona on his first racing weekend out of 2024, but that’s only for him to pass the superspeedway requirements by NASCAR before he’s allowed to raced there. He has never done it before other than road courses where he made his name in Supercars while he won at Chicago on his Cup debut + raced on a short oval with Niece Motorpsorts in Trucks last year. He won’t be lost at Trackhouse after all despite the late change due to AJ Allmendinger’s return to the Xfinity Series also to Kaulig as his new team-mate. They are preparing him well at the right place ahead of racing Cup level full-time in 2025 & beyond either in their potential third car or possibly replacing Daniel Suarez in the No.99 Chevy Camaro.

So what does that mean for Australia? It will still be on Fox Sports/Kayo every week Live for all Cup and Xfinity races where you would need to pay at $25 a month to watch these races behind a paywall. Yes, it didn’t cost that much for Three to stump up the money in order to show races live legally now in NZ. Speaking of Three, they are owned by Warner Bros Discovery whose parent cable channel TNT will return to the sport next year under the next Domestic TV rights contract (five late summer races live alongside Max as a sports streaming add-on with all 2nd half practice & qualifying events via TruTV).

But despite the Three NASCAR deal in NZ, don’t see NASCAR coming back on free-to-air in Australia anytime soon even it’s only one-hour highlights like IndyCar. Anyone can watch YouTube at anytime for a few mins highlights from the race without having to sit few hours each time & there’s always full race replays during the mid-week too that is all for free worldwide.

We don’t even know what is happening with Brodie Kostecki right now after he shockingly decided to leave Erebus Motorsport in Supercars this week not long before the new season starts soon despite winning the championship. I hope he can come back sometime this season & race part-time at Cup level again with Richard Childress Racing. There’s still always hope to see an Australian racing in NASCAR though every week alongside SVG whether it’s with or without Kostecki. Plus, you got Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters potentially racing a few road course races there later this year for RFK Racing’s 3rd part-time vehicle in a Ford Mustang & he’s so passionate about this sport, having visited 1-2 races at Martinsville I (April) & Daytona II (August) last year.

For now, NZ Motorsport fans can enjoy watching NASCAR races live for free every Sunday & Monday thanks to ThreeNow. But for us Australians, don’t hold your breath when most top-level motorsports content is behind a paywall – even with an Aussie and SVG in there when most people are at work during the day except when you can Xfinity Series races on most Sundays.

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Thoughts on Erebus Motorsports looking to enter NASCAR as a part-time Cup team to further support Brodie Kostecki next season

by Sports Benches

Didn’t see it coming that Erebus Motorsports has today expressed their interest to enter into the world of NASCAR via Auto Action, especially Cup level; but only on a part-time basis to support their full-time Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki’s US adventure to a further extent next year. If this happens, we expect to see him race in a Chevy Camaro (Car No. TBD) with technical support coming from their great mates at Richard Childress Racing, who helped Brodie get his foot on the door at Indianapolis (Road Course) last month.

More details will come as soon as next season’s calendar comes out both for Supercars here & NASCAR. I’m glad the group at Erebus wants to have a crack at NASCAR on top of their successful Supercars operation considering their excellent relationship with RCR. With one year left on Brodie’s existing contact, although it seems too ambitious for Erebus to go full-time in NASCAR if you look at the huge costs to run from day-to-day, but sure he will end up at a RCR affiliate team like Kaulig or even RCR’s Xfinity Series team with the blessing/support of Erebus at some point in 2025.

He does not have much ovals experience right now on a national series level just like fellow Supercars driver Shane Van Gisbergen, who will move to the US full-time next season on an initial development contact with Team Trackhouse. But he can always continue to run 1-2 more road course events at Cup level alongside an odd short track oval race to round off his 2024 NASCAR adventure. Then he can move to the US full-time just like SVG but initially at Xfinity level & go from there to earn his stripes & get more ovals experience before being ready to race on Sundays (Cup level) after that either within in-house RCR or via one of their satellite Chevy teams like Kaulig Racing.

Whichever direction Brodie is heading the next step in NASCAR, he’s got excellent potential as our next NASCAR racer from Australia – even better when racing with a team also coming from Australia & the Supercars Championship for a start that will assist with his long-term goals. He certainly won’t be rushing too quickly as Brodie has the Bathurst 1000 this weekend as well as the rest of the Supercars season in the hope of waking away as the series’ champion, but glad he will get more opportunities which will in turn come with excellent on-track results.

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Motorsport News, Thoughts on Brodie Kostecki’s 2024 NASCAR plans update in the hope of 2-3 part-time races with Richard Childress Racing again

by Sports Benches

Weeks after Shane Van Gisbergen has announced his full-time move to the US with Trackhouse under an initial development deal, Brodie Kostecki has today updated his plans to race NASCAR as a part-time driver again following his Cup debut last month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Course) in the No.33 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing.

Although it’s too early to tell since the 2024 schedule isn’t out yet, but he hopes to be there up to three races – we just don’t which type of races could it be? One is definitely a road course since he has tons of experience there, but he could also be racing on an oval for the first time as well where he raced there a few times before a long time ago in the ARCA Series.

Although I bet it will be on a short track oval or else it will be all road course events in the short-term while he has a year left on his current contract with Erebus Motorsport in the Supercars Series here. I don’t think RCR would wanna put him on a high-banked oval so early without ovals experience unless he can do it in the lower series first, which is where everyone got their first goes there & the same will go to SVG on what is about to be his learning/work experience year with these race cars.

So yes, Brodie could be the perfect replacement for Austin Hill at RCR’s Xfinity Series team from 2025 should A.Hill be promoted to their Cup squad as long as they can get a 3rd charter off Stewart-Haas Racing’s No.10 team. Actually, this can be possible – have a look at Connor Moshack who also raced in ARCA in the past before gaining tons of road course experience in the Trans-Am TA2 series over the last two years. Then he went straight to Xfinity level for the majority this year where he split his time between Sam Hunt Racing & Joe Gibbs Racing with little ovals experience beforehand & he too got to race at these tracks more often other than road courses for the first time.

I know Brodie wants full-time Cup someday & resume his Supercars rivalry with SVG, but I’d like to see him follow Connor lead’s first once his Erebus contract is up by racing on ovals before he can race Cup every weekend.He has a bright future ahead as if it wasn’t for that qualifying crash last month, then he would’ve been Top 5-7 material but glad he’s getting more opportunities with the support being backed by RCR.

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