Ford Team Blocks Top Supercars Driver From Making NASCAR Debut
What’s Happening? A top Australian Supercars driver may have missed out on his NASCAR debut as a new report claims that…
With the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season nearing the back half of its schedule, some fans are getting déjà vu from 2025, as talks of a Chevrolet NASCAR star making the jump to Supercars are once again making the rounds, thanks to a new report.
Last season, NASCAR fans kept their eyes on rumors from Down Under.
Over the past few seasons, fans of both NASCAR and the Repco Supercars Championship have become increasingly familiar with one another.
This was mostly due to select drivers from their world making their way to NASCAR for part-time starts, most of which kicked off in 2023 with Shane van Gisbergen’s shocking win at the Chicago Street Circuit.
But last season, NASCAR fans were the ones waiting to see who would represent them in Supercars, as plenty of rumors swirled that both Ford and Chevrolet had interest in fielding a NASCAR driver in the season finale at the season-ending BP Adelaide Grand Final.
While Chevrolet did not get a Cup Series driver in the final race, instead opting to race 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Champion Jesse Love in the Super2 Series Race that weekend, Ford swung big, putting Austin Cindric in a Tickford Racing Mustang for the season finale.
Despite their rumored plans to field a driver like Kyle Larson or Connor Zilisch in the finale, it seems that Chevrolet is not done with their attempts just yet, with a GM Supercars Racing Program Manager Simon McNamara, saying that they are making plans to field a NASCAR star this season during a recent interview with Connor O’Brien of V8Sleuth.
McNamara says that GM is “very interested” in featuring a NASCAR driver in a V8 Supercar this season. However, he did add that this effort would require the governing body to allow more testing time for that driver to become familiar with the equipment.
What’s Happening? A top Australian Supercars driver may have missed out on his NASCAR debut as a new report claims that…
While Chevrolet did not get the chance to put a NASCAR driver on the streets of Adelaide last season, their options to do so this year are far from limited.
Over the past few seasons, particularly in the NASCAR OAP and Cup Series, Chevrolet has dominated road course racing.
In the OAP Series, the brand is riding a 17-race road and street course winning streak that dates back to late 2023. In the Cup Series, the brand won all but one road and street course race last season and has already found victory lane this year.
Of course, this dominance is mostly thanks to one man, Shane van Gisbergen, who won five of the 17 OAP Series races and all five Cup Series road and street course races last season.
SVG would be a somewhat boring choice for Chevrolet, given the fact that he is an 80-race winner in the series and a three-time champion.
If Chevrolet wanted a shot to win and a new face in the bunch, they could go with SVG’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, who was rumored to be under consideration for a spot at Adelaide last year.
Zilisch is a well-known road course ace and has shown a knack for adjusting to different race vehicles during these races. Still, given his Cup Series rookie year struggles and the testing that McNamara says Chevrolet would like to put into this effort, it could be a no for Zilisch.
If Chevrolet wanted to field a driver based on star power with a chance to also see that driver perform well, Kyle Larson is another realistic option. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is a six-time road course winner in the Cup Series, and would likely bring along his Hendrickcars.com sponsorship to boot.
He is also known for competing in many different racing disciplines, including Sprint Car Racing and IndyCar.
Nonetheless, GM has yet to announce any plan to officially field a NASCAR driver in a Supercars entry this season, nor are there any substantial rumors about who that driver could be.
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