Justin Marks remains focused on turning Trackhouse Racing into a championship-winning organization in NASCAR. However, he is not giving up on his dream of having his team compete in the Indy 500.
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As Marks explained during a media session on Jan. 7, the biggest race on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule is near and dear to him. It captured his heart in 1995 when he watched Jacques Villeneuve win the prestigious race.
As Marks' racing career continued and led to ownership, the possibility of having Trackhouse Racing represented in the Indy 500 became a dream of his.
"I think when the time is right, we'll take a real hard look at it," Marks said during the media session. "I mean, obviously we won't be competing in the race in 2025, but there are discussions ongoing about how to make something like that happen.
"It's very high on my personal list, and then I've got to get sort of the business and commercial and partnerships and all that kind of worked out to figure out how to go, how to do it in a meaningful and competitive way. So I don't think that the Trackhouse story will ever be complete without us competing in the world's greatest open-wheel race."
Competing in the Indy 500 — let alone making the race — is no small feat. It requires sponsors, a driver, and a car. Marks has plenty of talented drivers in the Trackhouse Racing stable, and he has connections to numerous others, so finding a driver shouldn't be a major issue.
Getting the partnerships and a car in place would be a bigger challenge. For example, Trackhouse Racing competes in NASCAR with the Gen 7 car — a spec piece of machinery built for stock car racing. It doesn't build the IndyCar entries featuring a Dallara chassis with either a Honda or Chevrolet engine.
Fielding a car would likely require Marks and Trackhouse Racing to partner with an existing team to field an entry in the Indy 500. This is what Hendrick Motorsports did last season when it built a relationship with McLaren so that Kyle Larson could compete in the prestigious race.
Of course, fielding an entry is only part of the battle. Trackhouse Racing would also have to qualify for the Indy 500, a race regularly featuring more entries than spots on the starting grid.
This is a sizable list of hurdles, but Trackhouse Racing and Marks are built for the challenge. They are established in NASCAR and in MotoGP. They have connections throughout the motorsports industry, which will only help them put the pieces in place for an Indy 500 bid.
