That is the question we put to you in this week’s Pirtek Poll, after both Brown and Waters contested the Sonoma race of the NASCAR Cup Series.
For both, Sunday in California’s wine country turned out to be a damp squib.
There had been much promise for Brown after he beat not only his Richard Childress Racing team-mates, but also every other Chevrolet steerer, when he finished third in his very first session in NASCAR.
Technical problems saw him battle to 24th in qualifying and finish the race three laps down, but the Supercars Championship leader would presumably have impressed most observers, and had certainly been beating RCR’s expectations.
For Waters, the picture is less clear, especially with the field diverging onto several different strategies, but he was trending upwards from 31st on the grid before multiple hits at Turn 11 took the #60 RFK Racing Ford out of the race.
A day earlier, now former Supercars driver Shane van Gisbergen picked up a second win in a row in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, demonstrating just how good he is on road courses compared to his rivals.
Van Gisbergen’s launchpad into a new career in the United States was, of course, his sensational victory on the Chicago Street Circuit last July, when he made NASCAR stand up and take notice while making a cameo in Trackhouse Racing’s ‘Project91’ Chevrolet.
Brown and Waters have both committed their futures to Supercars in 2025, staying with Triple Eight Race Engineering and Tickford Racing respectively, while Brodie Kostecki – who dabbled in NASCAR last year – is also expected to remain in the Australian Touring Car Championship, at least in the short term.
But, if calendars work out, then opportunities could exist for more Supercars-to-NASCAR cameos next year.
If so, would you like to see more Supercars drivers give American stock car racing a try?
“I definitely want to do it again, so hopefully I can get the call-up and hopefully something doesn’t clash on the track and I can come over and have another crack,” said Waters, who was also set to race at Watkins Glen if not for a Sandown 500 date change.
Brown showed that the Antipodeans can hold their own on road courses – in an age where the Cup car is quite similar to a Gen2 Supercar – while Waters deserves respect for throwing himself in the deep end with two Truck starts on ovals before making his Cup debut.
What could the likes of Brown’s Triple Eight team-mate Broc Feeney or Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert – to use the other two who are top four in the Supercars Championship as examples – achieve in NASCAR? How would Brown fare on an oval?
Would you like to find out, and in what discipline; road course or oval? Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll and, if yes, let us know which driver(s) you would like to see take the challenge in the comments.
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