After last weekend’s domination of the inaugural Mexico City Race in the NASCAR Cup Series by Shane van Gisbergen, Will Brown, another highly regarded talent from the world of Australian V8 Supercars, is gearing up for his return to stock car racing next month.
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The 2024 Supercars champion made his NASCAR debut last year when he competed during the race at Sonoma Raceway. Despite Brown’s extensive road racing background and prowess, the race was far from what he would have liked as his first in the U.S., as he retired from the event with electrical issues plaguing his Richard Childress Racing entry.
Scheduled to run in one of Kaulig Racing’s entries this time around in Chicago, Brown faces a logistical challenge as he prepares to compete in both America and Australia within a short period of time.
Slated to run the Townsville 500 on July 11-13 in Australia, Brown will be seen heading across oceans on Monday right after the Grant Park 165, which is scheduled for July 6. Despite what seems like a decent buffer between the two races, the 27-year-old elaborated why the journey needs to go as planned and on schedule.
“Getting over there to Charlotte and preparing is not too bad… but coming back is probably the problem for us. I take off Monday morning after the race, and I get back in Wednesday, and we’re heading up to Townsville Thursday. I’ll probably have one day, just making sure there’s no flight delays and all that sort of stuff. But it won’t be a lot of recovery between the two events,” he elaborated.
SVG‘s success in the States seems to have motivated lots of drivers in Australia to take up racing in the stock car racing league, as Brown will not be the only one making the long trip across the world. Cam Waters, another one of his peers, will also race in the Truck Series later this month as they head to Lime Rock Park for the Liuna 150.
Brown himself wanted to participate in the Chicago Street Race earlier in 2024 after seeing Gisbergen’s success during the inaugural event in 2023. However, the same did not materialize as the schedules for both NASCAR and the Supercars series clashed that time.
“I get along very well with the guys at Supercars, and they’re actually supporting and sponsoring my endeavour to come over there and compete,” revealed Brown, indicating the Australian series’ commitment towards getting their drivers varied experience in other series such as NASCAR.
It now remains to be seen if Brown can redeem himself from last time out. If SVG’s pace on road courses is anything to go by, Brown is expected to do just fine in the Windy City this year.
