The Supercars driver ended up 16th-fastest in Group B of Qualifying although he still beat RFK Racing team-mate Brad Keselowski by two positions in that stanza.
However, Waters will have wall of cars in front of him in the opening laps and several behind him.
“I’ll be starting right in the middle of the chaos, so I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he said.
“I’m sure it’s gonna be pretty full-on, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
“Hopefully, there is some passing and hopefully there’s a bit of tyre deg and we can go forward.”
Having spun the #60 Ford on his way to a best time of 1:14.829s in Practice, Waters clocked a 1:14.367s during his first qualifying run.
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He improved on his second run, albeit by just a single thousandth of a second.
“It was a lot of fun and super fast-paced,” recalled the Milduran.
“On the first run, I was just trying to work out what kind of grip I had and probably left a little bit on the table because we made some changes overnight and the car was different.
“We couldn’t get anymore out of it on the last run, but I had so much fun.
“The car was a lot nicer today. We’ll just see how we do in the race now.”
As for Sonoma Raceway itself, Waters declared, “The course is awesome.
“There’s a lot of undulation. I feel like there are a few passing opportunities and it’s got a little bit of everything. I love it.”
Fellow Supercars driver Will Brown qualified 24th after a throttle problem left him with just 75 percent power in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Race start is due on Sunday at 15:30 ET/Monday at 05:30 AEST.
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