Surging Trackhouse Racing Is No Place for NASCAR Curmudgeons

• Trackhouse Racing became a team to beat last year, placing drivers Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain in the NASCAR Playoffs.

• Today, the team operates with about 150 people. That’s at least half of those employed by the sport’s veteran mega teams.

• A few days before the season opening Daytona 500, Trackhouse made it official, Suarez and Chastain wouldn’t be free agents any time soon.

When Trackhouse Racing emerged from its second NASCAR Cup season with three victories, 21 top-five and 34 top-10 finishes and second place in the championship standings the team’s performance underscored the importance of the sanctioning body’s new direction.

It was a direction that team co-owner and visionary Justin Marks recognized as the opportune time for him to field his own team. He knew he wanted Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain as his drivers because of their intense hunger for success. He shied away from the path of previous team owners, cutting his own trail with a game plan that would build a successful operation. It’s a blueprint that will produce more victories in 2023.

“What we’re trying to do in this sport is really establish ourselves as a consistent year-in and year-out competitor … that can win championships, that can be a great destination for partners and for the people that work here,” Marks said.

“We’re living in an era now where the people are truly going to make this car go. It’s really the core tenant of our business and a big part of our success.”

For Trackhouse’s performance last year, the National Motorsports Press Association presented the Myers Brothers Award to Marks and its Richard Petty Driver of the Year award to Chastain. Named for stock car racing pioneers Billy and Bob Myers, Marks’ award recognizes individuals and/or groups who have provided outstanding contributions to the sport.

Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville Speedway gave him the edge in Driver of the Year voting. Still, Chastain said he has less confidence now because “this series is so humbling.”

“At this level, nothing is guaranteed,” Chastain continued. “I feel like I have more work to do now than I did a year ago to sustain what we were able to accomplish last year.”

A few days before the season opening Daytona 500, Trackhouse made it official, Suarez and Chastain wouldn’t be free agents any time soon. Both had signed multi-year contracts.

“It was incredibly important for Trackhouse to have two race car drivers that have a lot of fire because there are 36 guys that walk in this garage every week, and there aren’t 36 hot burning fires in those guys,” Marks said. “I want two guys where that fire is burning the hottest.

“I started this team and hired two guys that had never won a race before, never made the playoffs before. That didn’t matter to me because I saw that potential was there through their work ethic, their dedication and just how badly they wanted it.

“Knowing that our two guys, Daniel and Ross, are going to be with us for a long time, it really sets the tone, and it gives us some security and it lays the groundwork and infrastructure for us to truly build a great organization that’ll be around here for a long time.”

Marks describes everyone who works at Trackhouse as “dreamers.” When he purchased Chip Ganassi Racing after the 2021 season it gave him two charters and the team’s Concord, N.C., facility. Trackhouse President Ty Norris says negativity isn’t allowed. That includes the sport, the Next Gen car, the schedule, and each other.

“It’s OK that people are curmudgeons, but they won’t work at our place,” Norris said referring to Trackhouse.

Norris is beginning his 33rd year in the NASCAR garage and he says he has never worked for a “more special group in a more special time with unreal possibility where Trackhouse can go.”