Trackhouse Racing will buy Chip Ganassi Racing, Ganassi exiting NASCAR

This is arguably one of the biggest bombshells dropped in recent silly season history in the NASCAR Cup Series. Trackhouse Racing has bought Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cup Series team. All of it. The shop, the cars, the charters, all of it. The next generation of NASCAR team owners is here!

Trackhouse Racing is a new team for 2021 that is owned by Justin Marks and Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull. They brought in Daniel Suarez who had a down year in 2020 with the Gaunt Brothers and so far this team is on the bubble of making the playoffs. The team has had to lease a charter from Spire Motorsports this season and with the recent news of Kaulig Racing purchasing a couple charters, this threw a wrench in Trackhouse’s plans. The team had been looking to expand for 2022 to a 2^nd car, barring if they could land a charter. Chip Ganassi was not looking to sell his team, but after a conversation and proposal from Justin Marks, it had Ganassi talking, which eventually led to the sell of the Cup team he has ran since 2001. Ganassi will be exiting NASCAR at the end of 2021, but will still operate his IndyCar, IMSA and Formula E teams.

Guys like Hendrick, Gibbs, and Penske have been around for a long time and a question that has pondered my mind for the last few years have been, “What will the next generation of team owners look like?” Looks like we have a more clear answer than we did three or four years ago. We have seen the news of Jeff Gordon stepping out of the FOX Booth to take a larger role to be second in command at Hendrick Motorsports, then the done deal with Brad Keselowski leaving Team Penske to go to Roush Fenway Racing to become a driver/co-owner of the team, as well as Kaulig Racing expanding to the Cup Series full time for 2022. We can’t forget as well with Denny Hamlin’s new team with Michael Jordan, 23XI Racing, as well as the previously mentioned Trackhouse Racing. We are seeing the next 20 to 30 years of NASCAR shape up more and more by the day. Regarding today’s news, the #1 is now with Pitbull, Justin Marks and notably Ty Norris. Norris worked with DEI back in the day, so he receives perhaps one of the last remains of Dale Earnhardt Inc with that number that has been with the team since DEI and Ganassi merged in 2009. However, we do not know what the number of the 2^nd Trackhouse car will be.

The next question is for the two current drivers at Chip Ganassi Racing, Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain. It has been reported that they are the leading candidates for the 2^nd car, as Daniel Suarez will remain the driver of the 99 Chevrolet. Busch is a veteran of the circuit and a champion as well, scoring back in 2004. Kurt Busch has been racing in the Cup Series for 20 years now and has even said on Twitter that he wasn’t done yet after a parody account posted a tweet that announced his retirement. Monster Energy has been with Kurt since he joined Stewart Haas Racing in 2014, which could make a great fit for a team like Trackhouse Racing. For Chastain, he got his big break in late 2018 from Chip Ganassi and got to run a few Xfinity races, including scoring his first win at Las Vegas. He was scheduled to run full time in the Xfinity Series in 2019 for Ganassi until a sponsor fallout occurred, leaving his scrambling for anything. He ran triple duty on a lot of weekends, driving for the Championship in the Truck Series for Niece Motorsports, then being picked up by Kaulig Racing to run some Xfinity races and as well running in the Cup Series for Premium Motorsports. Then in 2020, Chastain got the opportunity to run a full Xfinity Season with Kaulig until his promotion to Ganassi’s #42 Cup ride for 2021. Before the news, it was noted that Kurt Busch had been in contact with Trackhouse Racing as well as 23XI.

Trackhouse Racing has possibly become one of the big teams of NASCAR now. They have bought everything from a solid Cup team and they’ve been running with a technical alliance from Richard Childress Racing. I think Trackhouse Racing could go worldwide in the sport and be competitive for years to come. In the Chevy camp, Hendrick leads the way, RCR has been improving with the possibility that both drivers could be in the playoffs this season. Then Trackhouse will be there, who already looks strong with Suarez putting together results that put him right outside the playoff picture. The team is now going to be expanding with two charters and a look to move the team headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee by 2023 to operate in the heart of the Music City’s Entertainment District.

            Another domino has fallen for Silly Season 2022, but a couple more question have now arisen and only time will tell until we see who that driver will be in the 2^nd Trackhouse car and what the future holds for the likes of Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch.