THERE will be a particularly special guest at this month’s VAILO Adelaide 500 in the form of NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Childress.
V8 Sleuth has learnt the 78-year-old, whose team famously won six NASCAR Cup Series championships with Dale Earnhardt Sr, is due to be on the ground at the November 23-26 event which acts as the Supercars season finale.
The 2023 Cup Series drew to a close on the weekend, with Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney crowned champion at the Phoenix decider.
That’s freed up Childress to head Down Under in the latest chapter of the burgeoning relationship between Supercars and NASCAR, and especially between Erebus Motorsport and RCR.
Erebus and RCR have increasingly worked together, including the latter acquiring a Holden VF Commodore Supercar for testing purposes.
Erebus star Brodie Kostecki made his Cup Series debut for RCR in August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – with Supercars sponsoring the entry – and he’s hoping for more such outings next year.
Supercars bosses attended the Indianapolis event and have credited NASCAR for laying the foundations for its access to the Windshear wind tunnel this coming off-season for aero parity testing.
Kostecki is also contesting a World Racing League enduro in December at Circuit of The Americas with RCR and its drivers Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon.
Before then, Childress will head to Adelaide.
It’s worth noting that Childress expressed interest in entering the Supercars sphere in 2014, shortly after Roger Penske bought into Dick Johnson Racing.
Childress also used to employ Bathurst 1000-winning engineer James Small, who is nowadays crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing star Martin Truex Jr.
