“Potentially some of the other tentpole events like the Daytona 500 or Coca-Cola 600,” Justin Marks reveals the plans for PROJECT91 from 2023
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Pitbull and Justin Marks owners of Trackhouse Racing
Justin Marks-Pitbull-owned NASCAR outfit Trackhouse Racing has been the team to talk about in the 2022 season; within just one and a half years in the cup series, they have already established themselves as a formidable opponent to the big teams. The Daniel Suarez-Ross Chastain duo has led the team on track with their history-making runs and has already established themselves as championship contenders this season.
But Trackhouse Racing’s success isn’t just limited to the success the No:1 and No:99 Camaro ZL1s brought in it also had a lot to do with the great business and marketing mind Justin Marks has. One of his latest and maybe the most ambitious ones will be the PROJECT91, the initiative which provides a ride to champion drivers from different motor car racing series in the NASCAR cup series.
The first among the many cup outing of the No:91 Camaro ZL1 will take place this weekend at Watkins Glen, a 2.5-mile road course race where F1 world Champion with Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen, will make his cup series debut. The “Iceman” is coming out of his retirement to flag off the Trackhouse project and hoping to have a good race finish at the end of the day at Glen.
Find out what Justin Marks said
Justin Marks acknowledged that moving forward for PROJECT91 bringing in drivers such as the likes of Kimi Raikkonen to road courses will be the ideal path as the drivers will have prior experience in driving on such tracks. He added that Road courses are a quick learning curve for such driver entries as it offers much pace for these drivers.
“I think moving forward, PROJECT91, the road courses are really the ideal places to bring guys like Kimi in just because of the experience on the road courses. I think it’s a quicker learning curve, and they can get up to speed a lot more quickly than ovals,” Justin Marks said.
Justin Marks went on to say that the PROJECT91 will operate at all road courses of a season in the coming future. He added that the No:91 cars also be part of the grid in iconic NASCAR events such as the Daytona 500 or Coca-Cola 600.
“Ultimately, PROJECT91 is a program that operates at all of the road courses during the season and then potentially some of the other tentpole events like the Daytona 500 or Coca-Cola 600. Something like that,” Justin Marks added.
Justin Marks went on to explain that at some point in time Trackhouse Racing will be fielding a third car but for PROJECT91 the plan is to appear in six or eight races from next year. He added that the initiative is a brand extension of the Trackhouse team as it creates unique content, stories along with merch sales for the organization.
“I think at some point, you get so many races you have to look at actually fielding a third full-time car. But I think for PROJECT91, it’s a six to eight race program, potentially, next year and beyond. And it’s a brand extension of Trackhouse. I think we can get really unique on the content side and the merch side and just create great stories. That’s sort of where I’d like to see it go,” Justin marks explained.
Talking about Kimi Raikkonen’s cup debut at the track will be a successful one if they have the right strategy and a bit of luck on the race day and pointed out that he isn’t worried about the speed of the car after seeing the Iceman in action on the sim and the test track. He added that if the No:91 crew can do a good job for the F1 veteran then they will see it as a very good day at the track.
“…We have to run a good strategy and get a little bit lucky, but what he has shown at the test and in the sim and some of the other things we’ve done, I don’t have any issues with the pace or preparation. I think it’s going to be right on par. So, if we do a good job for him as a team, I think we could have a very good day,” says Justin Marks.
Can Trackhouse bring success to the team with PROJECT91?
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