While a routine re-signing on the surface, Waters making a multi-year commitment to both the squad, and the series, has an underlying significance.
Despite his long tenure at the famous Ford squad, it’s understood that Waters has been operating on some form of rolling single-year agreements for some time.
Waters has made little secret of his desire to race in NASCAR, with a rolling deal convenient should a full-time opportunity have ever come his way.
He even continued that trend at a time when he was an obvious target for Triple Eight when Shane van Gisbergen departed, a move that would have required a multi-year commitment to a new team.
Now, however, he’s elected to make a solid commitment to Tickford and to Supercars, something he explained in an appearance on the KTM Summer Grill.
“I just want to go racing cars,” he said. “I’m a race car driver. That’s why I do the Sprintcar stuff, that’s why I wanted to go do the NASCAR stuff.
“I’ve still got to get paid, right? So I’ve got to think about that. And as much I’d love to go race over in America, do NASCAR full-time, if the opportunity, isn’t there, it’s just not going to happen.
“I’m really happy with what I’m doing with Supercars [and] Tickford, I’m happy with where I am. And I think if I can just compliment that with a few races overseas for a year, or a bit of Sprintcar racing, I think that’d be really cool.
“So that’s kind of my plan, try and win this [Supercars] championship at some point, and a Bathurst, that’s kind of my goal.”
Adding significance to Waters’ decision to commit to Tickford is that General Motors is still on the look out to sign a superstar driver given it is losing Triple Eight from its ranks.
Matt Payne is believed to be GM’s latest target, however it’s firmly believed that Waters was among those approached by the carmaker last year.
Waters was coy on the matter when quizzed on the Summer Grill, but far from shut the notion down.
“Potentially they may or may not have reached out to people who manage me, I’m not really sure,” he quipped.
“I’m sure you can put two and two together. But I’m happy at Tickford. I love the Ford brand. I build old Ford cars. Yeah, it was kind of a no brainer to me.”
On the Sprintcar front there has been a complication for Waters with his car owner selling up, however he is well regarded enough in speedway circles that other opportunities are more than feasible.
As for more NASCAR outings, Waters says he is keen to get back to the States to at least race in the third-tier Truck Series again this year.
“For me in 2026 it’s about trying to do a few more of those kind of races, if I can find the sponsorship to do it,” he said. “And yeah, have a bit of fun.”
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