NASCAR team owner makes Brown Chicago call

One of NASCAR's most influential off-track figures is confident that reigning Supercars champion Will Brown can be a force to be reckoned with in his upcoming Chicago Street Race cameo.

Ty Norris, Chief Business Officer at Kaulig Racing, the team with whom Brown will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start with on Monday July 7 Australian time, was a key figure in Trackhouse Racing before moving to Kaulig last year.

Norris was President and Chief Business Officer of Trackhouse from the team's foundation in 2021, during which the team debuted the PROJECT91 initiative for international drivers, with Shane van Gisbergen taking the car to victory at Chicago in 2023.

Now, 59-year-old Norris, who is a 35-year veteran of the NASCAR industry, is looking for lightning to strike twice with Brown at Kaulig, and exclusively spoke to Supercars.com over the weekend in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Will came over and raced last year, and I think he was really inspired by what happened with Shane when he came to Chicago and was competitive and then ultimately won the race," Norris said.

"It inspired a lot of folks from Supercars to believe that they could come here and be competitive, and we know they can because every time one of those world-class drivers show up, they have a lot of speed.

"I think he got a good taste of it last year in Sonoma, he was very fast in practice, had some mechanical issues very early in the race, so I think he was very disappointed, and didn't want to leave it that way.

"There had been some conversations about trying to do it again, Richard Childress called us and said they couldn't do it, but we're all technical partners, so we got together with Will.

"I'm excited to see what he can do there in Chicago, because he's only two races behind everybody in the garage. We've been running at Sonoma and Watkins Glen and all these other road courses for a long time.

"We've only run Chicago twice, and both of them in the rain, so it would be really incredible if it was just dry, that would be the first time for everybody, so I think Will could be right there and be competitive."

Brown won't be the only road course star among the Kaulig Racing line-up, with A.J. Allmendinger widely renowned as one of the best road course racers in NASCAR.

The 43-year-old American bested Marcos Ambrose in 2014 to claim his maiden Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen, and has added a further two in his career following a successful stint with Kaulig as a full-time Xfinity driver.

Whilst securing a Playoffs berth for Allmendinger will be front of mind for Norris and Kaulig Racing, the 26-year-old from Toowoomba will be free to race for the win even if it is an intra-team battle.

"We have our own team to run, we have A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Dillon, both quality road racers, A.J. is one of the top three or four in the entire garage, maybe top two in the garage," Norris said.

"We anticipate A.J. to go there and compete for the win as well, so we're not trying to put any pressure on Will to try and do anything above just getting over here, have fun, learn, and enjoy.

"If we execute, and get to the end where hopefully it's him and A.J. racing for the win, I really do believe that Will will be competitive.

"We've seen what Will can do in the Supercars, he's extraordinarily talented, great person, really wants to study, so I anticipate him to be competitive.

"We wouldn't have done it if we didn't think we were going to put a competitive car under him, nor if we thought he couldn't do a great job with it, so we know he can, and we're pretty excited about Chicago."

Norris, who became Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s right-hand man when Dale Earnhardt Inc. was founded in 1996, also detailed Brown's extensive preparations in the lead-up to the Grant Park 165.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver will fly out to America immediately following the betr Darwin Triple Crown from June 20-22, and will be on hand at the unique 1.54 mile superspeedway in Atlanta for the preceding race within the Kaulig camp.

"Fortunately we do this every week, so preparing for Chicago, we're going to be prepared for Chicago anyway with all of our other drivers," Norris said.

"We do a lot of sim time, we do a lot of setup work, we're going to be ready. And for Will, the way the schedule worked out, the weekend is off in Supercars the weekend before as well.

"So he'll be in North Carolina at the race shop all week, he's going to go to the Atlanta race with us. The Atlanta race is a drafting race, so maybe we'll scare the pee out of him, I don't know.

"He's going to go to Atlanta with us and enjoy that race, and then he's just going to study at home, study his setups, do as much sim work as he can, so that when he gets to the racetrack, very few things are a surprise."

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 from June 6-8. Tickets for the event are on sale now.