AUSTIN, Texas — When Justin Marks started Trackhouse Racing, many wondered if he knew what he was getting into. When he purchased Chip Ganassi Racing late last year, those same folks had similar questions.
But less than 18 months after starting his team, Marks stood in victory lane Sunday at Circuit of The Americas as a NASCAR Cup Series winning team owner.
Ross Chastain held off all challengers for a victory on the 3.41-mile road course. It was Chastain’s fourth top three finish in the last four races and a crowning achievement for Marks and Trackhouse Racing.
“This was an ambitious thing to sort of dream up, and I asked a lot of people that had a lot of experience in this sport and seen a lot of teams come and go to trust me and to commit to Trackhouse,” Marks explained Sunday evening. “And so to be here not even — not even a year and a half really into our existence, I’m just proud of everybody that committed.
“Every single one of these people, they own a piece of this victory. So it was always Ross. That’s what I told him when he got out of the car: It was always you. When the Ganassi buy-out happened, and he texted me as I got off of the press conference stage of the Hall of Fame, and he just wrote, ‘I want this.’ He had to be patient with me while I let the dust settle, but we all were huge, huge believers in Ross’ talent.”
Marks, who is partners with Pitbull in the ownership of Trackhouse Racing, says the two-car operation that fields Cup Series machines for Chastain and Daniel Suarez, is more than a race team.
“Trackhouse is — it’s an investment in the people,” Marks said. “The thing is this car — I really believed since day one that this car delivers an opportunity for these companies to feel like real teams and to really invest in teamwork. The way the 1 and the 99 work together and how everybody feels motivated and empowered.
“The pitch was, ‘let’s build a great team together, let’s do all of this together,’” Marks continued. “That was the inside of the building pitch. The outside of the building pitch is this sport is ready for challengers. It’s ready for disruptors. It’s ready for people to come in and challenge the status quo and how we do things, have some fun, look good, try to be fast, win races, have a good time doing it.
“I just have always been authentic about my mission. I just take a lot of pride in seeing everybody’s smiles and happiness today.”
Marks stopped short of calling Trackhouse Racing a championship contender.
“I don’t think we can put the cart before the horse,” he said.” I think it just comes down to fundamentals. We just have to continue executing, taking advantage of our strengths and improving our weaknesses as much as we can.
“Tomorrow these guys are going to be in the shop just thinking about Richmond, right? That’s the next one, right? Richmond? Whatever is next.
“That’s the thing, right? What I say is it’s the aggregate of all the small things that make opportunities for big things to happen. Just to have an opportunity to be at this stage, on this stage, and to be able to compete at this level of the sport, I’m really, really lucky. Lucky that everybody committed to this.
“We feel like I don’t want to use the word championship,” Marks added. “We just got here, so it’s like we still have a lot to learn. And we haven’t been to a short track yet. We still have a lot to learn with these race cars. We’ll just keep fighting along and doing the best that we can, and we’ll see where we end up at the beginning of the fall.”