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Waters is following in the footsteps of his former Supercars rival in so much that he will drive RFK Racing’s ‘Stage 60’ entry, a similar programme to Trackhouse Racing’s ‘Project91’ initiative which propelled van Gisbergen to his sensational first-up win last July.
The similarities do not end there, either.
Van Gisbergen did take full advantage of a unique set of circumstances, Chicago being NASCAR’s first ever street circuit and the race being affected by rain, but there are some parallels to this weekend’s Sonoma event.
Not only is it a road course, and hence a discipline which is Waters’ bread and butter; the track has been resurfaced recently, diminishing the advantage of circuit experience and also prompting NASCAR to schedule a longer than usual practice session.
However, the Milduran is not daring to dream of driving the #60 Ford to Victory Lane on Sunday (local time).
“I’m not even thinking that I’m going to win,” he told Sirius XM’s Backstretch Banter programme.
“I know it’s going to be hard, for sure. I just want to get in.
“I don’t really have any expectations but try to enjoy it and I’m going to give it a red-hot crack.
“I’ve done as much prep as I think I can, and we’ll just see where we end up.
“But, I know it’s going to be pretty tough out there; there’s a lot of good road racers in NASCAR.”
While van Gisbergen won in Chicago, his second Cup start would arguably be a more reasonable benchmark for Waters.
On the Indianapolis road course last August, the New Zealander qualified eighth, ran around the cusp of the top 10 all race, and finished exactly 10th, although it should be noted that he battled a throttle issue during the afternoon.
Fellow Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki, who started rear of grid instead of 11th due to a crash in qualifying forcing him into a back-up car, climbed to 22nd by the chequered flag.
“I don’t really know how I’m going to go,” said Waters.
“I’ve kind of watched how Shane’s come over here and raced, and Brodie last year.
“Brodie was around that 10 to 15 mark, and obviously Shane won a race, which is probably a bit of an outlier.
“But, [I want to] just have fun and respect the guys that are in the championship and hopefully have a few cool battles with those guys as well.”
Waters will not be the only current Supercars driver in the Cup Series field, with Will Brown driving the #33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Xfinity Series Practice starts today at 16:05 ET/06:05 AEST, followed by Cup Practice at 17:05 ET/07:05 AEST.
