Reigning Australian Supercars champion Will Brown will compete in Sunday’s (July 6) Cup Series race on the Chicago Street Circuit. Named Grant Park 165, it will mark the 19th race of the 2025 season and the third annual road course event in Chicago.

Ahead of making his career-second Cup Series start, Will Brown spoke to the reporters about how Shane van Gisbergen’s transition from Supercars to NASCAR was a hit for the Australian fans. On that note, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic asked Brown what the latter thought about so many Supercars drivers trying out NASCAR.

“I think that it’s been great for us because it’s Monday morning, so a lot of us wake up in the morning and watch Shane (van Gisbergen).” Brown said (1:50). “Nearly everyone in our team definitely does, and a lot of fans every Monday (are) watching NASCAR.”

After van Gisbergen left Supercars for NASCAR, Brown took over his seat at Triple Eight Race Engineering. Notably, this happened one whole year before Brown’s contract with Erebus Motorsports was due to expire.

“I think losing Shane from our series was a hit at the time, but there’s been a lot of young guys come up through and sort of take that place and be really competitive,” Will Brown added (2:07).

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Fans can watch the former rivals in action only on TNT Sports, 2 pm ET onwards. MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live radio coverage of the 75-lap race. Gisbergen will start from the pole position, while Brown will start 19th for Kaulig Racing. Alex Bowman, the defending winner of the event, will start 11th.

Shane van Gisbergen backs Will Brown’s racing prowess

Shane van Gisbergen knows how good Will Brown is behind the wheel. He spotted for him last year during Brown’s NASCAR debut at Sonoma. However, van Gisbergen said recently on the Inside the Race podcast that things were going to be different this time, as they were going to be rivals.

“I actually spotted for him when he raced Sonoma last year, so I was trying to help him a bit. But this year, there’s no help because we’re competitors.”

“I know that Kaulig can put a really good car together. Even though it will be a third/extra car there, the car will still be capable of a great result, but it’s going to be hard,” he added.

Shane van Gisbergen won his debut NASCAR race at Chicago back in 2023. Besides that, he now has a pair of Xfinity wins there (including his most recent one on Saturday, July 5). Needless to say, the Auckland native is aware of the nuances of this iconic street circuit.