Brown, Waters battle through NASCAR qualifying

Will Brown and Cam Waters will start 24th and 31st respectively for their maiden NASCAR Cup Series race, following a rollercoaster qualifying session at Sonoma.

Supercars championship leader Brown, who was third in practice, qualified 12th in his group, with Waters 16th in Group B.

Brown’s efforts were hamstrung by a throttle issue in the #33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, leaving him over 0.5s off the pace.

Later, Tickford Racing star Waters was 16th in the second group, and will line up from 31st in the #60 RFK Racing Ford.

Team Penske star Joey Logano secured pole position for the race, beating 23XI Racing Toyota driver Tyler Reddick and reigning champion Ryan Blaney.

Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ross Chasten and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.

Brown out-qualified veteran teammate Kyle Busch, who was 29th. Austin Dillon, meanwhile, was 16th. Waters also out-qualified seasoned teammate Brad Keselowski, who was only 35th, with Chris Buescher 26th.

Earlier, three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen dominated Xfinity Series qualifying to secure his maiden NASCAR pole, and is in the box seat to claim back-to-back wins.

Brown and Waters will return to the track at Sonoma for the race, the Toyota/Save Mart 350, which will be televised live in Australia on Foxtel and Kayo.

Pre-race coverage will commence on Monday June 10 at 5:00am AEST on Fox Sports 505, with the race itself to start at 5:30am AEST.

Waters and Brown will return to Australia after their Sonoma cameos for Round 5 of the 2024 season in Darwin.

The betr Darwin Triple Crown will be held on June 14-16. Tickets for the event are on sale now. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.