There is a bit of a missed opportunity in the NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend at Sonoma Raceway as Australian Supercars championship lead Cam Waters will make his debut alongside rival contender Will Brown but three-time champion turned NASCAR regular Shane Van Gisbergen will not be amongst them.
Instead, it’s AJ Allmendinger in the Kaulig Racing No. 16 with SVG actually serving as a turn spotter for Brown and his Richard Childress Racing No. 33 team this weekend. Brown is making his debut for RFK Racing in its No. 60 entry.
Did Van Gisbergen think, at least once, to petition Chris Rice and Matt Kaulig, or Justin Marks for a chance to battle his old mates?
“No, but I’m certainly jealous,” Van Gisbergen said on Tuesday at NASCAR Productions when asked about it by Sportsnaut. “I do wish I was in the race and that would be a lot of fun but I’m going to be spotting for Will and we’re going to be on the simulator tonight and hope I can help him there.
“I’m excited for those guys just to see how they’ll go. They get a long practice this weekend on a freshly sealed race track so I think they’ll be competitive.”
Waters, who drives for Tickford Racing down under, didn’t offer much when asked if he wanted to renew his old rivalry with SVG at Sonoma either.
“It would have been cool to have us in the same category but I think he’s spotting for Will,” Water said. “Hopefully he doesn’t give Will too many tips.”
Marcos Ambrose won the Supercars championship in 2003 and 2004 before making the transition to NASCAR, where he won twice in the Cup Series and five times in the Xfinity Series, but no one else ventured stateside between his departure in 2015 to SVG in 2023.
But with Van Gisbergen winning immediately in his Cup debut on the Streets of Chicago last July, teams are now making overtures to Supercars drivers about their own interest. Brodie Kostecki also came over last year and drove for Childress at Indianapolis.
“I think it shows the level of Supercars is quite high,” Waters said. “It’s an awesome series down there. I’ve seen a few negative news articles about the drivers wanting to leave … but at the same time the category has produced such good drivers over the years. The drivers still love Supercars, and they still want to race in Supercars. It’s just more about racing a little bit more and complementing their racing programs to help them back home.”
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And with Van Gisbergen enjoying success, winning in the Xfinity Series last weekend to punch his ticket into the playoffs, Waters said fans are paying more attention to NASCAR than they have since Ambrose left.
“100 percent,” Waters said. “Before when Shane went over, you could watch Cup races but it wasn’t followed by anyone except the diehard race fans.
“Now, with Shane over here, we can watch Cup and Xfinity races, and even the truck races I did were on back home as well. I do think there’s more of an appeal now with Shane over here and me and Will doing some races. It’s cool.”
Van Gisbergen says he’s seen a lot of familiar fans reach out to him on social media and are still following his exploits.
“Even on the weekend, there were three or four New Zealand flags flying at Portland so it’s been really cool to see all the interest and in all the motorsports websites there every week. The interest, it’s like when Marcos was racing, there were stories about him every week.
“People have told me they plan on coming to our races at the end of the year and that’s awesome too.”
Despite SVG making himself a full-time regular in the US, Waters doesn’t expect to follow suit, at least anytime soon. He’s all in on his Supercars ambition but also enjoys being able to moonlight like he is this weekend or in his previous Truck Series starts at Martinsville and Kansas.
“That’s my day job,” Waters said. “I just want to come over here and do a few races when I can fit them in. I want to race as much as I can.
“Back home during the summer (northern hemisphere winter) I try to race Sprint Cars and then through the season, if I can fit in some extra races like this, that’s perfect for me.”
While they’re not racing against each other on Sunday, the trio did meet up for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate Brown’s birthday.
This was between pit stop practices, simulator days and visits to local establishments, including a visit to the Childress Vineyards for Brown.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.