Nine years after his quest to race in NASCAR ended with him returning home to Australia, Brodie Kostecki is back to make his Cup debut this weekend.
He’ll arrive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as the Australian Supercars points leader, seeking to earn his first series title.
But there was a time the native of Perth, Australia, was focused on being a Cup champion.
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Kostecki was attracted to NASCAR because it was on TV more often than Supercars, which ran fewer races.
“The dream was to be in a race car as much as possible,” Kostecki told NBC Sports. “I drew favoritism more to the NASCAR side of things (due to its longer season). That’s what sort of got me over here. I wanted to try to see if I could make a career in NASCAR.”
Kostecki, 25, was ranked among the top 50 go-kart racers in Australia when he was 10 years old. With limits on the type of cars he could race until he was in his mid-teens, Kostecki moved at age 13 to the U.S. with his father to pursue a racing career.
He competed in the USAC Ford Focus Series, winning three national championships. Kostecki also raced Late Models, drove three races in what was the K&N Pro Series East in 2013 and ran most of the series in 2014.
Former Craftsman Truck champion Ben Rhodes won the K&N East title in 2014 and recalls Kostecki.
“I enjoyed racing him him in the K&N Series,” Rhodes told NBC Sports. “He was one of the guys that I felt like I could race around. … He was smart with his equipment.”
Kostecki’s family-owned team struggled, so some help was enlisted. Corey LaJoie, who did not have a full-time ride at the time, served as Kostecki’s crew chief in four of his last five East races.
“I asked for his help … because we ran our own car and were sort of lost halfway through the season,” Kostecki said. “He came around to the shop and we both sort of sat there and scratched our heads looking at the car a little bit. He’s a lot smarter than what he plays off to be with the car knowledge. … I started running a lot better.”
Kostecki finished the season placing a career-best fifth at Dover with LaJoie as his crew chief.
“We still laugh about those days,” Kostecki said.
That Dover race would be Kostecki’s last in the series before returning to Australia.
“There’s always two ways you can look at things in life,” Kostecki said. “I was sort of, obviously, disappointed that we had to go back home, but at the same time I was very grateful for the opportunity that I got to come over at such a young age and do so much racing and I was able to win a few races as well in a Late Model, which is really cool. I really enjoyed my time here.”
.@BrodieKostecki takes on pit stop practice in the No. 33 @mobileXus Chevrolet! pic.twitter.com/zKK1g4ws65
— RCR (@RCRracing) August 9, 2023
He’s back due to a relationship with Richard Childress Racing that has grown over the past year. RCR has a Supercar Kostecki raced, which the team uses to give its drivers added experience on road courses since testing with a NASCAR vehicle is regulated tightly.
“With how many road courses are on the schedule now (in Cup), it’s pretty important to focus on that part of it all,” said Kostecki, who also has done sim work for RCR.
Kostecki worked with RCR at a test with his Supercar vehicle at a road course earlier this year.
“He was there when we first went out, and I think he had me covered by about two seconds a lap and … by the end of the day, we actually ran times that were real comparable and right on top of his,” Kyle Busch said. “It just took me a while to get used to those cars and what they are and how you can really attack corners.
“Just various driving techniques that those cars take, but I think those guys are all very good at what they do, and they really understand the heavy stock car feel and basis for these road courses. So, I would assume that he will be strong as well.”
While it’s easy to figure Kostecki pushed for this chance after fellow Supercars racer Shane van Gisbergen won the Chicago Cup race last month, that’s not the case.
“We had some plans tucked away probably eight to 12 months ago for Indy,” Kostecki told NBC Sports. “With my scheduling back at home and the scheduling here, there are not many races that we can actually come over and do that don’t conflict. Indy road course was penciled in a while ago. Shane winning was obviously cool for me to watch.”
Kostecki also has done some sprint car racing, running about half a dozen races. He’s looking forward to the opportunity to meeting Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, who both came from dirt track racing to NASCAR.
“It’d be nice to meet those guys,” Kostecki said. “I’ve been massive fans of them and follow sprint car racing a fair bit. Definitely two guys I pull for every time that they’re in a car.”