By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
In a wave started by Shane van Gisbergen two years ago, another former Australian Supercars driver is set to make his NASCAR debut this weekend.
After originally being slated to make his Xfinity Series debut in the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing at Portland later this season, Jack Perkins will instead be making his first career start around the winding streets of Chicago at the Chicago Street Course, where he’ll start from the fifth position.
With Perkins the latest driver to make the trip over from Australia, we took a quick look back at some other notable drivers who did the same and how they fared in their NASCAR debuts, starting with van Gisbergen himself.
Shane van Gisbergen
Started: 3rd | Finished: 1st (Cup Series)
In his first ever NASCAR start in 2023, van Gisbergen jumped straight to the Cup Series and immediately became a Cup Series winner by winning a very wet race in the inaugural Chicago Street Race. Driving for Trackhouse Racing, it didn’t take long after he hit the track for the first time for his competitors to realize he was going to be in contention for the win.
He started inside the top five, finished top five in both stages, and took the lead with eight laps to go to secure the victory and launch what has since become a full-fledged career in NASCAR. He recently won his second career Cup Series race at Mexico.
Cam Waters
Started: 22nd | Finished: 30th (Truck Series)
Waters was the first driver to follow van Gisbergen and try his hand at NASCAR, although while he would later make a Cup Series start at Sonoma, finishing 35th, his first start actually came in the Truck Series on an oval. Waters debuted at Martinsville in 2024 driving for ThorSport Racing and his first foray into short track racing proved to be a challenging one for the Aussie, as he started outside the top 20 and failed to finish after a late-race incident.
In addition to the Cup Series start at Sonoma, Waters has made two additional Truck Series since, with a best finish of fifth at Lime Rock Park earlier this year.
Will Brown
Started: 24th | Finished: 31st (Cup Series)
Brown, who is attempting to make his second NASCAR start at Chicago driving for Kaulig Racing, made his debut at Sonoma in 2024 driving the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing. It started off well, as he was third quickest in practice and appeared as if he’d be in contention for the win, but the rest of the weekend proved to be much more difficult.
His qualifying lap was seven-tenths of a second slower than his practice lap causing him to start right in the middle of the pack and then struggles during the race caused him to finish three laps down.
Marcos Ambrose
Started: 20th | Finished: 33rd (Truck Series)
While van Gisbergen’s immediate success in Chicago triggered this latest wave of Australian Supercars drivers coming over to NASCAR, Ambrose is still the standard when it comes to making the switch between the two disciplines. Ambrose won the Australian V8 Supercar championship in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004 and made the move to NASCAR in 2006.
Starting off in the Craftsman Truck Series, Ambrose, like Waters, made his debut at Martinsville. Also like Waters, it proved to be a difficult short track debut. Driving for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, Ambrose finished 52 laps down after being involved in a wreck. He went on to finish his NASCAR career with two Cup Series wins and five Xfinity Series wins.