BRODIE Kostecki’s highly anticipated Cup Series debut will come with a NASCAR Hall of Famer’s team.
Kostecki, who raced in the NASCAR feeder K&N Pro Series East as a teenager, will compete next month on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in a third Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
Childress, 77, made 285 Cup Series starts as a driver from 1969 to 1981, with ’69 also being the year of RCR’s launch.
Childress’ real success though came later, after he had hung up the helmet.
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His North Carolina-based squad enjoyed a famous partnership with Dale Earnhardt Sr from 1984 until the legend’s death at the 2001 Daytona 500.
In that period, Earnhardt and RCR combined for six Cup Series championships plus a Daytona 500 win.
Further Daytona 500 successes have come for RCR via Kevin Harvick in 2007 and Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon in 2018.
Dillon still drives for the team, with Kyle Busch his new-for-2023 teammate, having taken over from Tyler Reddick in the #8.
Former Joe Gibbs Racing stalwart Busch has already enjoyed success with RCR, winning at Auto Club Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and World Wide Technology Raceway.
Kostecki was trackside for the last of those, capitalising on an alliance forged between RCR and his Supercars team Erebus Motorsport.
RCR has also been making use of an ex-Erebus VF Commodore acquired from the Supercars squad’s Super2 affiliate Image Racing.
That perhaps has helped the team on the road course racing front, with Busch having finished second at Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway this year, plus fifth at the Chicago Street Course.
Kostecki thus should have a strong road course package underneath him, just as Shane van Gisbergen did with Trackhouse Racing in Chicago.
Busch and Dillon are third and 29th, respectively, in the 2023 NASCAR standings.
Childress was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017, a year after his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
