Waters, a 12-time winner in Supercars, will make his Cup debut in Sunday’s race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, driving the No. 60 Ford for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
Waters has some NASCAR expertise already, having competed in a pair of NASCAR Truck races this season at Martinsville and Kansas with ThorSport Racing.
Cam Waters, ThorSport Racing, TRADIE Ford F-150 Jack Wooden, McAnally Hilgemann Racing, Instacoat Premium Merchandise Chevrolet Silverado
Picture by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
The Cup race is an enormous step up, however it can additionally come on a highway course, the place his earlier NASCAR begins this yr have come on ovals. Waters, 29, ought to at the very least have a barely higher consolation stage.
“For me, it’s a little bit of a bucket record (merchandise), to be sincere,” Water mentioned this week at NASCAR’s Manufacturing Facility in Harmony, N.C. “I get to come back over and do a Cup race – it’s fairly superior.
“To have the ability to do it, you realize, on a highway course and in a automobile that sort of makes a little bit bit extra sense to me goes to be fairly particular as nicely. I feel I’ve acquired no thought the way it’s to go, however I simply wish to benefit from the week.
“The opposite half was to have the ability to come over right here and do a number of oval races. That was sort of the Truck aspect, and I completely had a ball. It appeals simply to sort of step out my consolation zone and do a number of extra races on the aspect and complement my racing again residence.”
Waters could have some acquainted firm in Sunday’s race.
Present Supercars collection chief Will Brown can even be making his Cup debut at Sonoma with Richard Childress Racing.
Additionally, three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen – who now competes full-time in NASCAR’s Xfinity Sequence – will function one among Brown’s spotters in Sunday’s Cup race.
Final July, van Gisbergen grew to become the primary driver in additional than 60 years to win a Cup race in his debut when he took victory within the inaugural Chicago Road Race driving for Trackhouse Racing.
“To come back over right here to do a highway course and to drive a automobile, that makes much more sense to me. That’s so much nearer to what a race again house is,” Waters mentioned. “You recognize, it’s a bonus, to be sincere.
“However on the identical time, stepping up into Cup, the extent of competitors goes to be means tougher as nicely.”
Similarities between Cup vehicles and Supercars
Earlier this week, Waters spent a while watching his RFK Racing team-mate Chris Buescher in a simulator hoping to select up how the present Cup drivers navigate their vehicles.
Due to Sonoma’s current repave, Waters can even get a 50-minute follow session on observe on Friday, in comparison with the standard 20 minutes throughout most Cup weekends.
“The Cup automobile appears so much nearer to what we race again residence, in all probability nearer to our outdated automobile, the Gen 2 automobile than the Gen 3 automobile however so much nearer to what I raced than the truck,” Waters mentioned.
“To come back over right here and never get any testing and whatnot is tough and one thing that we get lots of again residence, you realize follow and testing. That’s a little bit of a problem.”
