Trackhouse Racing buys NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
Justin Marks once raced for Chip Ganassi Racing, so he knew Chip Ganassi when he called him a couple of months ago to see if he’d be interested in selling his NASCAR operation.
Ganassi was intrigued, and two months later, Marks announced that his Trackhouse Racing bought the NASCAR assets of Ganassi, effective the end of the 2021 season.
"I was hopeful, but you never really know," Marks said of the past two months after announcing the purchase Wednesday afternoon. "There were a lot of things to work through, a lot of details to work through, a lot of conversations to have with Chip.
"I felt confident because Chip’s enthusiasm grew through the process. ... I was pretty committed to seeing it through and not really working on anything else until I knew if this thing was a go or not."
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So what happens now? Here’s a look:
Drivers
Daniel Suarez will remain as a driver for Trackhouse in the No. 99 car next year.
As far as the second car — Ganassi owned two charters; Trackhouse was leasing a charter that it had to return to Spire after the season — that is to be determined.
Current Ganassi driver Kurt Busch already was a free agent after this season, and Ross Chastain now becomes a free agent after this year.
"At the onset, those two are the top two under consideration," Marks said. "It’s not just drivers. There are a lot of great people there, and we want to retain as much of the talent there."
Busch has talked with 23XI Racing about going to that team if it starts a second car as a teammate to Bubba Wallace. If 23XI Racing can land a charter, that move is likely the preferred option for Busch.
Chastain has surged some over the past month and sits 22nd in the standings in his first full Cup season. If he joined Trackhouse, it would give the team two fairly young drivers (Chastain is 28; Suarez is 29) to build around for the future.
If Trackhouse (yes, that’s the team co-owned by Pitbull) wants a veteran, it could look to Ryan Newman, who is being replaced by Brad Keselowski at Roush Fenway Racing in a move that has yet to be announced. Aric Almirola also is in a contract year at Stewart-Haas Racing.
There are several relatively young free agents still looking for next year, including Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Preece. Erik Jones is struggling at Richard Petty Motorsports and could be looking for a change. Tyler Reddick is probably the top young talent, but he currently is under contract at Richard Childress Racing.
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Team operations
The team will work out of the current Ganassi shop in Concord, North Carolina, starting next season. Marks eventually would like to move his operation to the entertainment district in Nashville, where fans could visit the shop, but that move won’t occur until 2023 or later.
Trackhouse currently is embedded in the Richard Childress Racing shop, and Marks said he expects that alliance to continue.
"I don’t anticipate a change at all," Marks said. "A lot of the work that has to be done from here over the next couple of months is understanding very intimately the Chip Ganassi Racing operations."
The organization uses the Chevrolet engine, which is now being built as a collaboration between Hendrick and ECR (Childress).
Marks said he hopes to retain many people from Ganassi, but Ganassi said many in his management team will remain as part of his motorsports operation.
Ganassi’s future and legacy
Ganassi owns a shop in Indianapolis, and that is where his non-NASCAR teams are based. He will continue to compete in several other series, including IndyCar, in which he has won the Indianapolis 500 four times. He has won 19 series championships in motorsports but none in NASCAR.
In 21 NASCAR seasons, Ganassi drivers have won 14 Cup races. Six times he has had drivers in the top-10 in the season-ending standings.
"You reflect on 20 years in a particular business, in a particular sport, and there are good things and bad things when you look back on all of it," Ganassi said.
"I said it was generally a positive thing. I felt best about what Justin was saying about our people and our team going forward, and that’s important to us. That made it a little more palatable."
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
Chip Ganassi Racing Team Trackhouse
