Justin Marks: Return of Project91 Coming 'Sooner Rather Than Later'
After not making an appearance during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks says the team’s Project91 program hasn’t seen its last race.
“I get phone calls all the time from some of the greatest drivers around the world about coming and doing it,” Marks said during the second day of Race Industry Week.
The program, which debuted at Watkins Glen International in 2022, has fielded an entry for 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and three-time Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Raikkonen competed in two NASCAR Cup Series events as part of the program, securing a best finish of 29th at Circuit of The Americas in 2023. Van Gisbergen on the other hand, made his Cup Series debut in the inaugural Chicago Street Race, and captured the victory.
That victory, in the Summer of 2023, catapulted the Auckland, New Zealand-native into a full-time NASCAR National Series career. In 2025, Van Gisbergen will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for the entirety of the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series schedule, driving for Marks and Trackhouse.
“That’s really exciting for us. The only reason that it wasn’t on the race track this year is that we just had so much going on with the third car that we prepared for a few races for [Shane Van Gisbergen]. Then helping him over at Kaulig. Kind of all this stuff going on.”
“We just didn’t really have the bandwidth or time for it, but now as we’re kind of just focused again on our three cars next year full time, then Project91 can come back. I would expect to see it sooner rather than later.”
Since Project91’s debut in 2022, and moreso since Van Gisbergen’s triumph in 2023, several teams have brought some international flair into the NASCAR Cup Series, including Richard Childress Racing (Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown), 23XI Racing (Juan Pablo Montoya and Kamui Kobayashi), and RFK Racing (Cameron Waters).
