It’s been a busy start of the year for Justin Marks and his Trackhouse Racing team.
The new organization welcomed PItbull as a co-owner, made its on-track debut in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14 and also also announced CommScope and Camping World as corporate partners whose colors will appear on Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
After racing in the Daytona 500 and on the Daytona road course in the season’s first two races, Suarez and the Travis Mack led crew turn their attention to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway where they will race Sunday on the 1.5-mile high-speed oval.
The Trackhouse team has a little extra motivation in South Florida since Pitbull will attend the race in his hometown.
Sunday’s race in Homestead begins at 3 p.m. ET on Fox.
Did you ever dream you would be racing in the Miami area with Pitbull as the co-owner of team?
SUAREZ: “When I signed on at Trackhouse I had no idea Pitbull would be joining the team. Pitbull and I met a few years back. We have a few common friends. I never realized he was a race fan and he loved racing. He started loving racing when he saw the movie “Days of Thunder.” He’s really happy how things worked out. He is such a popular figure not just in the Latino community but worldwide. Me being a Mexican driver, it just all makes sense. Add to that Pitbull and Justin are committed to making a difference in communities and taking NASCAR racing to places it has never been before. It just all made so much sense. We met in Miami and we knew after a couple of hours this was going to be a great relationship.”
Do you have any singing talent?
SUAREZ: “Certainly not. It’s pretty incredible what these guys do. They are amazing performers. Pitbull has a talent for not only singing but communicating, talking with people. It’s amazing how his brain works.”
PITBULL: “Who would have ever thought? A little Miami boy – right here in one of my old neighborhoods of Little Havana – being able to be involved in NASCAR?
“There is no hidden agenda here. You want a winning team, you want to create amazing sponsorships and an amazing organization. But more than anything this was about the initiative to utilize NASCAR to inspire those who never would have had a chance to be part of NASCAR.
“Being a Miami-boy and everything we have done with music, education and entertainment, if there is anything we understand it’s being underdogs. Whether that’s the Heat, the Marlins, the Dolphins, or UM, we always find a way to make it happen – the Dolphins we are still working on!”
Notes of Interest
- Suarez led two laps on the Daytona Road Course on Sunday – the first two laps led in Trackhouse Racing’s brief history.
- Suarez will carry a Coca-Cola in-car and visor camera in Sunday’s race.
- Before turning a wheel, Trackhouse Racing became one of the more popular teams in NASCAR when it announced GRAMMY® Award-winning global superstar Pitbull had become a co-owner. Not only will he serve as an active partner on the Trackhouse executive team, but Pitbull also serves as a brand and philanthropic ambassador. Together, Marks and Pitbull will foster the launch of a racing-themed STEM curriculum within the SLAM! (Sports Leadership Arts and Management) inner-city charter schools — which Pitbull helped establish seven years ago.
- Suarez became the the first Latin American, as well as the first NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate, to win a NASCAR national series title when he won the 2016 Xfinity Series championship.
- In 2016, he became the first Mexican driver to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, claiming three victories at Michigan, Dover and the championship finale at Homestead-Miami.
- He was the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year – the first Mexican driver to win the award.
- Marks competed in six Cup Series races with a best finish of 12th-place in the 2018 Daytona 500. He made 35 starts in the Xfinity Series posting a win, three top-five and seven top-10s. He won the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 13, 2016 driving for Ganassi Racing.
- Marks competed in 38 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series posting four top-10s and capturing two pole awards. He joined four co-drivers in winning the 2009 Rolex 24 in the GT division.
- Marks picked the number 99 for the Trackhouse Chevrolet as a tribute to former Cup Series driver Carl Edwards.
Trackhouse Racing PR
