Trackhouse Racing Owner Says Team is in a “Rebuilding Phase”
What’s Happening? Following another trying weekend for Trackhouse Racing, team owner Justin Marks says his team is working through a “rebuilding…
Trackhouse Racing has found itself under the scanner this season, and as the noise around the team grows, Erin Marks has stepped in to draw a line in the sand, backing the team, owned by her husband Justin Marks, in a post to social media after this past Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.
What was billed as a year of promise has, so far, failed to hit the mark for fan favorite NASCAR Cup Series team Trackhouse Racing.
The team entered the season with Ross Chastain, who had already shown his skill with a runner-up finish in the 2022 standings and several wins since.
Then came Shane van Gisbergen, brought in by team owner Justin Marks in 2023. SVG made an instant splash by winning on debut at the Chicago Street Course.
With a background in Supercars, the 36-year-old arrived with a deep understanding of road course racing and a level of comfort with the Next Gen car, introduced in 2022, given its resemblance to the V8 machinery he drove in Australia during his title-winning years.
The driver roster only grew stronger on paper this season with the addition of Connor Zilisch, a driver who had been stacking up wins across the lower ranks and pulled ten in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year.
Yet, while SVG has been making strides on ovals, both Chastain and Zilisch have struggled to find their footing.
With expectations running high and results failing to follow suit, Justin Marks acknowledged the situation head-on during an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio following the Spring Bristol race weekend. He admitted the team is going through a phase of rebuilding.
“It was one of those races, one of those weekends where you have to zoom out a little bit and realize that we’re in a rebuilding phase right now,” Marks said.
Besides, he conceded that while other teams appear to have a firmer grip on the season, Trackhouse is still searching for answers.
“We’re working hard. There were certainly some highlights from, uh, you know, from the weekend,” Marks said. “But, ultimately, at the end of the day yesterday, it was just a tough race, tough results, and another step in the process of rebuilding this race team,” Marks added.
But as the results have dipped, so too has the tone of the conversation around the team. Fans and media have weighed in, and not all of it has been easy to digest. Erin Marks responded to the chatter with a post on X, offering both a reality check and a plea for patience.
While her X account has since gone private, Erin’s point is similar to that of Justin’s, that the team is trying to figure things out early on in the new year.
What’s Happening? Following another trying weekend for Trackhouse Racing, team owner Justin Marks says his team is working through a “rebuilding…
Daniel Suarez, who parted ways with Trackhouse at the end of last season, weighed in on Marks’ remarks.
His exit had been anything but smooth since the start of the new season, with the driver previously stating that he felt unheard within the organization and that his suggestions were not acted upon, leaving him feeling sidelined over time.
Speaking ahead of the Kansas race, Suarez told Frontstretch that he now finds himself in a better place than he did during his time with Trackhouse. He also indicated that the issues Marks is now addressing were the ones he raised earlier.
“I mean, I had several conversations with Justin for a long time trying to convince him to do a lot of things in the team, and things just didn’t seem to happen. So I’m glad that finally he’s seen what I told him a while back,” Suarez said.
While the team continues to search for form, there have been signs of progress. SVG has been making gains on ovals, recording top-10 finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the first Duel race at Daytona, along with P11 finishes at Phoenix and Martinsville.
But their start driver and start rookie have continued to struggle early on in the new year, with Chastain and Zilisch outside the top 16 in points.
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