Austin Cindric is the favourite to drive a Supercars wildcard with Tickford Racing at the Adelaide Grand Final. Image: Gerry Images
News emerged late last week that Tickford is looking to field a third Mustang in Adelaide for Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, making it the latest Supercars team to be linked to a NASCAR-themed wildcard.
Rival teams were informed of that intention, or at least elements of it, last Thursday, with Supercars sign-off required, particularly as Tickford already has a wildcard program running this year.
While there is currently no news on where that sign-off sits, Tickford has now confirmed that talks with Ford Performance are underway, and that it would like to have a NASCAR driver on the Adelaide grid.
“Talking about the likelihood… we’d certainly love to run a program,” said Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse on Friday at Queensland Raceway.
“We tried to do it last year, the timing just didn’t work. The NASCAR season finished very close to Adelaide. This year there is a bit of a gap.
“There’s a little bit of water to go under the bridge and nothing has been confirmed. But we’re certainly working towards the possibility of that happening.”
While Cindric has emerged as the likely driver for the program should it go ahead, that is a decision Brookhouse says has been left in Ford’s hands.
“We’re working with Ford Performance and they are working through the drivers they think would work best,” he explained.
“Ultimately we’re leaving it in their hands. We’re not particular about the driver. We’re really partnering with Ford Performance if it goes ahead.”
For Brookhouse the wildcard concept could be a key relationship-builder between Supercars and NASCAR.
“I think for the relationship between NASCAR and Supercars, there’s a great opportunity to start it in the future,” he said.
“My own personal thoughts [are] if next year you could have a Toyota, a Chev and a Ford going around with NASCAR drivers, that would be great.
“Will [Brown] is going back over to drive NASCAR, Cam [Waters] has gone over, Shane [van Gisbergen] is doing so well.
“If we can build those relationships and have a pathway for our drivers to go there, and have them come back here and showcase their skills, I think the future of the sport is really rosy.”
Brookhouse also hinted that if the program doesn’t get off the ground this year, that won’t be the end of the line.
“We’ve heard the rumours that Kyle Larson was going to come, and I think Kyle Busch another year and whatnot, and it just hasn’t got off the ground,” he said.
“Once we do get it off the ground, whether it be this year or beyond, it will be something that we continue into the future.”