Brodie Kostecki will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut on August 13 in the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Richard Childress Racing’s No.33 Camaro. “I am thrilled to be making my NASCAR Cup debut at the Brickyard,” said …
Brodie Kostecki will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut on August 13 in the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Richard Childress Racing’s No.33 Camaro.
“I am thrilled to be making my NASCAR Cup debut at the Brickyard,” said Kostecki, who currently sits second in the Supercars championship behind Erebus Motorsport teammate Will Brown.
“It’s an honor to compete at such an iconic venue and against some of the biggest names in motorsport. I’m incredibly grateful to RCR for giving me this opportunity and I’m determined to make the most of it.”
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Kostecki previously did a stint in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series throughout 2013 and 2014, securing two poles, one track record and one top five finish across 14 races. He and other members of the Erebus squad visited RCR last month.
“Racing is at the core of everything I do, and NASCAR has been a lifelong goal of mine after spending years growing up in the sports heartland in North Carolina,” he said.
“It’s a whole different world over there and any additional time I can spend racing is only going to help me try and win my first Supercars Championship.
“We got some great exposure to the inner sanctum of the team during our recent trip, and I cannot wait to immerse myself in the team, this time as a Cup Series driver.”
Kostecki’s deal was announced just two weeks after fellow Supercars racer Shane van Gisbergen claimed a surprise win in the Cup Series’ inaugural street race in Chicago, and Erebus CEO Barry Ryan said Kostecki will embark upon his own NASCAR adventure with his full blessing.
“We have always encouraged Brodie’s pursuit of more racing opportunities,” Ryan said.
“Providing him with the chance to explore and excel in various racing disciplines not only enhances his skills but also contributes to the overall growth and success of our team.”
The No.33’s major backer will be MobileX along with support from Australian advanced technology company VAILO.
Shane van Gisbergen’s historic NASCAR Cup Series win on the streets of Chicago drew widespread plaudits – not least from the series regulars that the three-time Australian Supercars champion was racing against. And the respect ran both ways. Kyle …
Shane van Gisbergen’s historic NASCAR Cup Series win on the streets of Chicago drew widespread plaudits – not least from the series regulars that the three-time Australian Supercars champion was racing against. And the respect ran both ways.
Kyle Busch, who finished fifth, has previously partnered with the New Zealander in AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus line-up at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, and said he was fully aware of the threat van Gisbergen represented on a street course.
“That’s what he’s grown up doing,” Busch said. “That’s what he’s done his whole life. Fortunate for him, he’s done it in bigger, heavier stock cars, not lighter weight GT cars or some IMSA cars or something like that.
“He’s probably four, five, eight years ahead of us in this sort of car in the things that he’s done with the Supercars. I’ve worked with him before as a teammate with the Lexus program down at Daytona at the Daytona 24 Hours. He was on the other car, but we were all in the same meetings talking together. Saw he was talented in that car. We were all really fast, so he always kept probably the quickest time for the team the whole time we were down there for Daytona. He is no slouch. I knew he would be good when he came over.”
Kyle Larson was among the frontrunners when van Gisbergen was making his late charge through the field after being dumped into the pack during the pitstop sequence, and while the battle between the pair was over more quickly than the Hendrick driver would have liked, he said being able to run behind van Gisbergen after being passed was educational.
“It was so fun to watch from my view,” Larson said. “When he got to my back bumper, I felt like I pieced together a really good section and I was like, I thought for sure I’d look in the mirror and I was going to be like two car lengths or something in front of him, and he was glued to my back bumper and I was like, holy ****, this guy is flying.
“He was able to get by me, and then I got to watch the show. I kind of followed him through, and the moves he was making really everywhere — he could pass anywhere, but the moves that he could make into Turn 2 was really neat to see, and then the pass that he had for the lead… I thought the battle for the lead (between van Gisbergen and Justin Haley) was great.
Van Gisbergen “put on a show” for Kyle Larson. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
“He made his move into Turn 2. Justin was able to get a good exit and squeeze inside, and I was like, man, he’s going to be able to fight him off here for a little bit longer, and he just made a super-aggressive lane change back to his right side. It was just… it was sick. It was awesome.
“He put on a show and it was cool to see, and I think when a guy like that can come in and kick your ass at your own game, it shows that we all have room to improve. I’m curious what he thinks about us. He obviously passed a lot of us, so I’m curious if he thinks we all suck or if we could actually like compete, if we weren’t really that bad.”
Van Gisbergen had a quick answer for that.
“I’m sure if it was an oval it would be the other way around,” he said. “I guess this is my bread and butter, the street circuits. Almost half of our (Supercars) races are street circuits. I’m comfortable with the walls. It took me a bit to learn the proximity of the car, having the car on the other side of me, so I was missing apexes turning left and struggling turning right to know where that side of the car was.
“But those guys are good. In the wet the tire was so different to anything I’m used to, but they were straight into it and just into it. When I got on the slicks again I was probably a bit too timid and the guys were all over me.
“Everyone is good, and the passes they were making were committed. I probably was a bit too nice to some people, but that’s how it was.
“Come back next year, a lot of those guys will be quicker. You could see guys leaving a lot on the table on corner exits to the wall, where I wasn’t afraid of getting close.”
There could be chances for van Gisbergen to flesh out his NASCAR experience in the future if he has any say in iut. His long-running rivalry with Scott McLaughlin in Australia came to an end with the latter made a full-time switch to IndyCar a couple of years ago, and van Gisbergen says the door for a permanent American move of his own is very much open.
“I miss racing in the States,” he said. “I’ve done (the 24 Hours at) Daytona four or five times now, and just the way the American people are and how they go racing, it’s so much more enjoyable. And even doing the media stuff, which I hate, everyone here is really nice. They ask good questions and they’re respectful and it goes both ways. Everyone here has made me feel comfortable, and it’s so enjoyable the way the races are run.
“I’m committed next year to Supercars. I still love Supercars and hope it goes well there. But in ’25, who knows?”
