Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen has taken the NASCAR world by storm. Having etched himself in the history books with a debut win at the Chicago Street race, the 3-time Supercars champ bagged himself an Xfinity Series ride for 2024. That’s not it; after exceeding expectations in his rookie year, SVG will now look to repeat the same in his rookie season with Trackhouse Racing at the Cup level.

It’s not the case that rival teams haven’t tried putting up a fight against SVG and Trackhouse; RCR tried to do just that. Veteran team owner Richard Childress planned to get SVG’s rival Brodie Kostecki for multiple Cup Series races for the 2024 season. But this deal couldn’t go through, and SVG was able to get good experience under his belt running 13 Cup races this year. However, RCR isn’t calling it quits on its plans to counter SVG’s rapid rise and has now turned towards the 2024 Supercars champion Will Brown.

Will Brown will be back racing in the Cup Series next year with RCR

Before clinching the championship in the Supercars, Brown made his NASCAR debut driving the #33 RCR Chevy at Sonoma Raceway. However, the 26-year-old could only manage a P31 finish; meanwhile, SVG clinched the win in his Xfinity Series feature. It’s fair to say that Will Brown is eyeing redemption after his first NASCAR race, and he will be able to do that next year again with RCR.

Sharing an update about his plans to race in NASCAR next year via the Drivers’ Only podcast, Brown stated, “Hopefully two NASCAR races. That’s the plan. I’ll say one, but hopefully two if the car’s available.” He is eyeing to compete at the Circuits of America and is currently exploring options to enter the Chicago Street race. Unlike SVG, Will Brown is still actively competing in the Supercars Series and will look to defend his title. But, thanks to NASCAR’s schedule for next season, he will be able to feature in a couple of races. Even if Brown doesn’t get to run the street race in Chicago in a Cup car, he is open to hopping into an Xfinity entry to fulfill his wish.

“Chicago is one I want to do, but a lot of the guys over there want to do it, so it’s [a matter of] if a car is available, a team is available. I’m waiting to hear about that one. That’d be awesome if I could try and do that, but I’d be happy to do Xfinity if I couldn’t get that. Obviously, Xfinity over there is a pretty big,” Brown was quoted saying on Speedcafe. The decision to race at the Chicago street race as well as in COTA shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Brown is used to driving cars in road courses in the Supercars series and can have the same advantage SVG did during his win in Chicago.

If RCR intends on taking the fight to SVG, Brown is a bright candidate indeed. While Brown replaced him in 2024, the two drivers went head-to-head in the 2023 season. Although Brodie Kostecki and SVG took the spotlight in terms of race wins, Will Brown made a respectable performance in the race calendar. With over 20 races in the Supercars season, Brown managed to win on four occasions, proving his mettle against both Kostecki and SVG.

NASCAR fans certainly wouldn’t mind two of the best road course racers having a go at tracks like COTA and the streets of Chicago. Brown isn’t a pushover by any means, and he certainly proved that by taking the regions from SVG at the Triple Eight Race Engineering team.

Will Brown had doubts about living up to the expectations of replacing SVG

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Replacing a championship-caliber driver like SVG is a massive undertaking. Since 2018, Brown has been competing in the Supercars with his former team, Erebus Motorsports. However, an offer to replace SVG in the Triple Eight Race team was too good for him to turn down. Prior to this switch, the best championship finish he had was 4th in 2023, and not everyone was sold that he was heir to SVG’s winning legacy.

Well, he himself second-guessed his decision to take on this challenge. “There was a little bit of doubt around the end of the year; I signed the contract, and then everything went to shit, really, which I knew would probably happen.” But, with two wins and three runner-up finish was just the sign he needed to get out of his shell. “I know that the team’s capable of it; I know the cars are, it was all about how I performed this year, and how I stepped up to the plate. I’m excited to be in the position I’m in, because it means that I have.” Brown was quoted saying this on Supercars official website.

Through the first 11 races, he was just unstoppable and managed to claim a podium finish. This saw him open up a gap of 180 points on the second-best driver in the series, Broc Feeney. Only five drivers in the history of Supercars have managed to display dominance like Brown did in the first 11 rounds. And, to cap this dominant run, he went on to claim the title in his first year with the team.

During the Gala Awards Speech, Brown took a cheeky jab at SVG, saying, “Firstly, I probably need to thank the most important person that made this year what it was and got me the drive. Thanks to Shane Van Gisbergen for p—— off to NASCAR. Really appreciate that, they can keep him over here.” 

Richard Childress certainly understands the talent Brown possesses, and therefore he didn’t hesitate in bringing him on board. Who knows, the young driver could be next in line to transition from Supercars to NASCAR.