A new team is coming to the NASCAR Cup Series.
Former driver and entrepreneur Justin Marks has announced the creation of his new team, Trackhouse, Sports Business Journal reported in an exclusive Aug. 14. The team is planning to launch for the 2021 season.
The organization is planning to be an entity focused on STEM education and marketing. Marks hopes to use the Trackhouse brand to travel and serve minority and under-served students across the country and expose them to real-world STEM education in action. Trackhouse aims to market its brand and business around it.
“There is more and more pressure on corporations to invest in the community and to make investments in minority, under-represented communities along with energy sustainability, responsible governance, all those things,” Marks told SBJ. “So what we want to do with this race team is satisfy that need and create a meaningful platform where partnering with our team can be cause and impact marketing.”
According to Marks and his partners, which includes former Michael Waltrip Racing executive Ty Norris, the group attempted to buy a charter vacated by the closing Leavine Family Racing but was outbid by Spire Motorsports.
While the team does not currently own a charter, Trackhouse is currently looking to acquire one as well as cars, equipment and other racing technologies.
Marks is no stranger to his role as a team owner, having previously owned an organization that competed in the ARCA Menards Series and the World of Outlaws circuits.
Over his driving career, Marks has made 79 starts across all three national series, the most recent of which came in a Cup race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2018. Marks is also a veteran in IMSA sports cars.
The team indicates that an unnamed sponsor has already been lined up. Drivers and crew information were not announced.
Never at a loss for words, Zach Gillispie is a young, talented marketing professional from North Carolina who talks and writes on the side about his first love: racing! Since joining Frontstretch in 2018, Zach has served in numerous roles where he currently pens the NASCAR 101 column, a weekly piece delving into the basic nuts and bolts of the sport. Additionally, his unabashedly bold takes meshed with that trademarked dry wit of his have made Zach a fan favorite on the weekly Friday Faceoff panel. In his free time, he can be found in the great outdoors, actively involved in his church, cheering on his beloved Atlanta Braves or ruthlessly pestering his colleagues with completely useless statistics about Delma Cowart.