Tim Brown will make NASCAR Cup Series debut
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53-year-old Bowman Gray Stadium specialist will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2025
Tim Brown has collected 101 victories at the famed Bowman Gray Stadium. Beyond wins, the 53-year-old has collected 12 track championships and 146 poles at the track.
The 1/4-mile short track is set to welcome the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025.
Rick Ware Racing has signed Brown to drive for the team in The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. He’ll drive the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Brown runs in the Modified division at the North Carolina track. He’s collected championships in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2021 and 2022.
Brown already works with RWR as a suspension and drivetrain specialist.
Tim Brown comments on his NASCAR Cup Series debut
"I've worked my whole life to try to be a Cup driver," said Brown.
"I'm good with working on racecars for a living because it's still a pretty cool gig, but I always wanted to drive for a living. For Rick Ware and everybody involved here at RWR to give me the chance to go run a Cup race is so humbling and so heartwarming. It's really cool."
Brown on building NASCAR Cup cars
"I've been Cup racing for almost 35 years now, and I don't know that you'll find a Cup driver who actually gets to build his own Cup car from the ground up, chassis dyno it, and then go race it," Brown said.
"These guys that work here at RWR, they're my buddies and they're all racers, and we get to do this as a group effort. I actually get to put the nuts and bolts on it, and mount a seat, put the motor in it, and go drive it on the chassis dyno before I run it in the Clash. That's pretty cool."
"The guys who race these Cup cars today are elite," Brown said. "They're the best drivers in the world, and I'm not even going to put myself in that same category. I'm just going to do the best I can.
"I want to climb out of that thing at the end of the Clash and see my son and our family with big smiles on their faces and knowing that we did the best we could because, I promise you, I'm going to give it 110 percent. I just want to enjoy the moment, relish it and soak it all in. I'm not going to leave there and say, 'Hey, I'm a Cup driver, now.' I'm just going to leave there knowing this was the experience of a lifetime."
Brown will also race a modified ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race
Brown will run double-duty in his NASCAR debut. He’ll also race in the Madhouse Clash on Feb. 1 via his modified.
"That time in the Modified will be very helpful for multiple reasons," Brown added.
"NASCAR has already done some updates to the stadium with soft walls and things like that. That's going to change the line of the racetrack because you make the track smaller. So the line that we generally run, you won't be able to run because they run right out against the wall.”
“If the soft walls take up 2-and-a-half or 3 feet, now that's 3 feet that you can't let the car drift out to the wall. Just getting some track time before we climb in the Cup car, which I've never driven before other than on the chassis dyno, will be very helpful."
Ware comments
"As someone who understands what it's like to try to achieve goals and move up the racing ladder, it's just a great opportunity for Tim and it's something we're proud to do," Ware said.
"We've had the opportunity to give a lot of drivers their first Cup start, and this is one that's very well-deserved, especially at this track."
"At Bowman Gray, Tim really has the same opportunity as anybody else," Ware said.
"He was with Roush for decades before he was with us. He's a very good mechanic. He's built all his own racecars and he understands racing. I think he's got an inside track just because he has touched every single part of these cars. He's a racer, and particularly at this track, he's got a lot of experience."
The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium takes place on February 2, 2024.
Links
Tim Brown | Rick Ware Racing | Bowman Gray Stadium | NASCAR
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