Trackhouse is a visionary type of team. They went from leasing a charter in 2021 to owning two in 2023 to an alliance on a third charter in 2024.

Trackhouse leased a charter from Spire for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. A charter can’t be leased for two years straight. Trackhouse was in the market to buy that one and another in an effort to expand their NASCAR interest. Unfortunately for them, Spire sold two charters to Kaulig Racing for 2022, which left Trackhouse searching. They tried to acquire charters three separate times. They failed each one of them.

“I told Ty (Norris) let’s not lose sight of where there might be charters or business opportunities for Trackhouse where nobody is looking,” Justin Marks said then. “A lot of these owners are toward the end of their careers, and I was just thinking, maybe there’s somebody out there that is ready to make a change, is ready to step away or ready to move on and focus on other things.”

They pulled it off.

Trackhouse has acquired not one, but both of Chip Ganassi Racing’s charters for the 2022 season as well as his entire team. Ganassi, was getting out of NASCAR and Trackhouse took over.

“My NASCAR team was not for sale,” Chip Ganassi said of the sale. “Justin (Marks) simply came to me with a great offer and an even better vision. As everyone knows, I care deeply for my employees so selling to someone like Justin who is part of the CGR family make the reality of selling much easier.

“At first, it surprised me a little bit, but I have to say that – after thinking about it for a while – it very much reminded me of about 20 years ago, when I was talking to Felix Sabates about getting involved in NASCAR. I felt like there’s a lot of young, energetic thought being put into what Justin was saying.

“With all the new blood that seems to be coming into the sport now, with Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and maybe [Brad] Keselowski, and Tony Stewart has his team, Jeff Gordon’s back involved… all these sorts of things.

“The sport is great for some new young blood. We talk about a new generation of drivers and I think you’re going to see a new generation of owners now. I think it’s a great thing for the sport.”

Marks, raced 23 times in the Xfinity Series for Ganassi between 2015 and 2018. He won a race for them in 2016 at  Mid-Ohio. So, the two have a friendship and history together.

Plus, Marks’ team in Trackhouse has financial capital from Pitbull as well as Chevrolet cars which is what Ganassi also has which makes this even more seamless.

“This process took several weeks and I want to thank Chip (Ganassi) for being so open and candid with me every step of the journey,” Marks said. “Chip has built an iconic motorsports empire and the Ganassi brand is globally recognized as a winner in the auto racing industry.”

Marks would hold onto Daniel Suarez but keep Ross Chastain as the Florida native went from a Ganassi driver to Trackhouse.

In their first season together, Suarez won in Sonoma. Chastain won twice, COTA and Talladega, and marched all the way to the Championship 4.

Also in the process, they started Project 91 and raced with Kimi Raikkonen. This year, they had Raikkonen back but Shane van Gisbergen for the Chicago street race. He’d win. Trackhouse was able to sign him to a development deal that begins in 2024.

Then, with the possibility of snagging a talent like Zane Smith, they did. To make it work, they needed another charter. They leveraged their relationship with Spire to combine forces to buy out Live Fast’s charter and house Smith there.

Another big brain thinking scenario out of Marks and Trackhouse.