Richard Childress Racing’s #33 program returned to the Sonoma road course after over a decade this Sunday. And with it, Australian V8 Supercars sensation, Will Brown made his first-ever lap in a NASCAR Cup Series race. But although, the 26-year-old fired up the Toyota/Save Mart 350 by becoming the third-fastest in practice on Friday. issues with his part-time ride persisted right from qualifying.

After rolling off the grid in P24 due to his Chevy running at 75% power on Saturday, Brown ran strong throughout the early stages of the Sonoma road race, even gaining position within the top 15 at one point. However, electrical issues cut his brave push by 3 laps to finish P31 on a day Mr. Richard Childress will surely hope to forget.

Will Brown’s Sonoma dream turns into an “electrical” nightmare

The #33 Chevy finished P33 and P38 in its last two appearances this season at Texas and Kansas respectively, with Austin Hill. Heading to Sonoma, Brown seemed certain to overturn its recent fortunes with his extensive road racing experience. Nevertheless, for what feels like the umpteenth time this season, an RCR car was mired in controversy stemming from what many would call, pure coincidence. Around Lap 32, Will Brown brought out the 5th caution of the race in Stage 2 after stalling his car near the restructured concrete walls on Turn 11, citing “Electrical fire behind the kill switch,” as per Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut.

A relative newcomer, NASCAR added to Brown’s woes by holding him one lap back to penalize him, after the Aussie was found “short-cutting the circuit while heading to pit road” to get serviced. Following the restart, Josh Berry brought out the 6th yellow for causing a wreck involving at least 6 cars, on again, Turn 11. Consequently, Brown received the Lucky Dog pass but electrical failures around Lap 37 brought him back to the pits uncertainly asking his crew: “Are they still going to give us the Lucky Dog or not?” As Matt Weaver explained, “No response there yet.”

Josh Berry’s incident would ironically also end Brown’s Sonoma teammate, Austin Dillon’s day with a DNF settling at P36, leaving only 2/3rd of RCR’s roster on track for the rest of the race. Although disadvantaged Will Brown tried his best to gain positions from the back, Kyle Busch looked set to be the unlikely hero for RCR, on the other end of the running order. Rowdy battled his way up from P29 to the top 5. But an eager Ross Chastain spun him out on the final laps to finish P5 while Busch missed the top 10 by two spots.

When all the dust had settled in Sonoma on Kyle Larson’s season’s third race win, only the #8 RCR Chevy placed within the top 15, the other two at P30 and beyond. This sheds a harrowing light on another botched revival attempt from Richard Childress’ winless race team. But more so, on the part of Will Brown and his fellow Supercars aspirant Cam Waters who ran RFK’s #60 car at Sonoma. Waters also made his Cup Series debut at the Wine Country road circuit and failed to finish his race due to “suspension damage” sustained from the earlier incident involving Josh Berry.

Voluntary or not, fans are enraged over these blatant issues arising for RCR. And on NASCAR’s social racetrack, also known as Twitter was not kind at all toward their troubles at Sonoma.

RCR fans left fuming after another average showcase

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Right after Bob Pockrass of FOX updated fans about the incidents, the sentiments poured amidst the confusion of a cautionary Toyota/Save Mart 350 that saw 8 caution flags fly over 110 laps. However, Brown’s incident was certainly eye-catching as this spectator inquired with shock, “Did it look like the safety worker got a shock when he touched the car?”

Others were not so mellow and this fan signified the collective dissatisfaction and its probable cause: “RCR needs to get their shit together. That 33 has had issues all weekend. Will Brown was fast when the car wasn’t f*cking up.” Many comedically opined that, by the look of things, “RCR really loves its Xfinity program more than its cup program.” Rightfully, RCR’s Xfinity Series cars finished P5 at Sonoma, courtesy of Austin Hill’s #21, and Jesse Love placed P12 in the #2.

Another played couch crew chief, rhetorically demanding answers to quite a complex question, while providing sarcastic advice: “RCR needs to actually start trying to have good equipment in cup. How are you this bad?” Regardless, one comment summed up all three drivers’ troubles this season in a simple, yet resounding comment that read, “Welcome to RCR.” 

With the outcry growing by the minute, Richard Childress Racing must find ways to make amends before the tide turns on their incredible five-decade-plus NASCAR legacy.