Will Brown made his second career NASCAR Cup Series start this past weekend on the streets of Chicago, Illinois, and he did it with Kaulig Racing in a car that the team had not previously entered in the 2025 season.
Brown drove the No. 13 Chevrolet, one of five non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list going for the four open spots in the 40-car field. Brown managed to successfully qualify, along with Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill, Garage 66's Josh Bilicki, and Live Motorsports' Katherine Legge.
In a surprising turn of events, 23XI Racing's Corey Heim was left on the outside looking in after making contact with the wall on his qualifying run, making him the first driver to fail to qualify for a non-Daytona 500 Cup race since Timmy Hill and MBM Motorsports didn't get into the November 2018 race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Brown qualified for the race quite comfortably and started 19th. However, he was involved in an early multi-car pileup and could not continue.
Kaulig Racing not bringing back third car at Sonoma
Brown, who made his Cup Series debut with Richard Childress Racing at Sonoma Raceway last year and finished in 31st place, does not have any more starts planned for the 2025 season, and Kaulig Racing will not be fielding the No. 13 car at Sonoma for this weekend's Toyota/Save Mart 350.
As of now, the team have no plans to bring back the No. 13 Chevrolet this season, but that could change. The team fielded the car for the first time in 2023, and it made five appearances (four starts and a Daytona 500 DNQ) between two drivers, Chandler Smith and Jonathan Davenport.
Last year, the car also made five appearances, but its two drivers, A.J. Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen, are now full-time drivers. Allmendinger races for Kaulig Racing and van Gisbergen for Trackhouse Racing.
Kaulig Racing's other full-time driver is Ty Dillon, who is one of eight drivers still in the running for the in-season championship.
This Sunday afternoon's Toyota/Save Mart 350 is set to be broadcast live on TNT Sports from Sonoma Raceway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.