After Shane van Gisbergen lit up the NASCAR Cup Series in his first career stock car race, Brodie Kostecki hopes to do the same on 13 August when he makes his series début at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, driving the #33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. MobileX, owned by Boost Mobile founder and his Supercars sponsor Peter Adderton, will provide branding for the car.
“I am thrilled to be making my NASCAR Cup Series début at the Brickyard,” said Kostecki. “It’s an honour to compete at such an iconic venue and against some of the biggest names in motorsports. I’m incredibly grateful to RCR for giving me this opportunity, and I’m determined to make the most of it.
“Racing is at the core of everything I do, and competing in the NASCAR Cup Series has been a lifelong goal of mine after spending years growing up in the sport’s heartland in North Carolina. It’s a whole different world over there, and any additional time I can spend racing is only going to help me try and win my first Supercars Championship. It means a lot to me to have my long-time personal sponsor, Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton, supporting me with his new telco brand, MobileX. I can’t thank MobileX, VAILO, Erebus, and all of my supporting partners enough for coming on board.”
Unlike van Gisbergen, Kostecki already has a background in stock cars. As a teenager, he raced and won in the UARA Late Model Series before competing in what is now the ARCA Menards Series West in 2013 and 2014. He placed eighteenth in the 2013 standings with four top tens, a pair of poles, and a best finish of fifth.
Kostecki eventually returned to Australia to begin his ascent through the Supercars ladder. After a pair of modest introductory seasons in 2021 and 2022, he has blossomed into one of the series’ top drivers in 2023 with two wins and podiums in all but two of the first twelve races. He is currently second in points behind Erebus Motorsport team-mate Will Brown.
Erebus has close ties with RCR via their engineer Andrew Dickinson, who worked at the former before joining RCR driver Kyle Busch. In June, both Erebus drivers and the team attended the Cup race at Gateway won by Busch.
He revealed his interest in running a 2023 Cup race shortly after the 2022 Gateway event, followed by a report from Auto Action last Wednesday of an impending announcement.
“Brodie Kostecki is a young, promising driver and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in the #33 MobileX Chevrolet with Richard Childress Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course,” commented RCR owner Richard Childress. “Brodie’s background in the V8 Supercar Championship will suit him well in NASCAR Cup Series racing, especially on Indy’s road course configuration.”
RCR’s #33 was last used at the 2022 Michigan race for Austin Hill in his Cup début.