Waters' NASCAR debut cut short after crash

Cam Waters’ impressive NASCAR Truck Series debut ended early after being caught up in an incident in the final 25 laps of the race.

The Tickford Racing star qualified 22nd for the Martinsville race on Saturday morning (AEST), and ran towards the back of the top 10 throughout the race.

However, Waters’ #66 TRADIE-backed ThorSport Ford sustained front-end damage in two incidents late in the race, with the second incident ruling the Supercars star out.

The race was dominated by Christian Eckes, with pole-sitter Ty Majeski finishing second.

Waters was 24th at the end of Stage 1, and ran 13th by lap 64 before pitting ahead of the Stage 2 finish.

The 11-time Supercars race winner managed to avoid a number of incidents, and restarted 13th with 90 laps to go.

Despite contact on the restart, Waters was 15th with 69 laps remaining, and pitted under caution with 59 laps to go. Restarting 20th, Waters was then turned around in a mid-pack logjam.

After the restart, the #38 Ford of Payne Riggs went around, with Waters getting into the rear of Jake Garcia's #13 Ford. The front-end damage to Waters’ Ford was too great for the Supercars driver to continue, bringing an abrupt end to his debut race.

Waters’ old Supercars rival Shane van Gisbergen, meanwhile, will start 19th for the Xfinity Series race on Sunday morning (AEST).

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the ITM Taupo Super400 on April 19-21. Waters is 342 points behind championship leader Will Brown heading into the New Zealand round.