Chip Ganassi sold his NASCAR team to Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing, and declared Wednesday that he will pull out of the nation’s top stock car series at the end of this season.
Chip Ganassi currently fields cars for Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain (not shown).
(James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Ganassi fields two cars in the Cup Series but will transfer his North Carolina race shop and all its assets to Marks for 2022.
“He made me a great offer that required my attention. The team wasn’t for sale,” Ganassi told The Associated Press.
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Chip Ganassi Racing began as an open-wheel team that grew into one of the most successful organizations in IndyCar. The Pittsburgh-based owner expanded into NASCAR in 2001 and has fielded at least two cars every season since.
Ganassi won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, two of the biggest races in NASCAR, with Jamie McMurray in 2010. He currently fields a pair of Chevrolets for Busch and Chastain, who Ganassi told of the sale on Wednesday.
Ganassi’s IndyCar team is a four-car program that features six-time series champion Scott Dixon and current points leader Alex Palou. He will run his organization from its Indianapolis shop next season; the Concord shop will transfer to Marks.
Overall, his teams have 19 championships and more than 230 victories including four in 2021. His win total also includes four Indianapolis 500s, eight Rolex 24 At Daytonas, the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ganassi’s corporate office in Pittsburgh.
Marks is in his first season as owner of new team Trackhouse Racing, which counts entertainer Pitbull as a co-owner. The team leased a charter this year from Spire Motorsports to run Suarez but Marks had been unable finalize a deal to purchase NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise.
Marks has said he lost out on three charters last year as he was building Trackhouse — on Wednesday he said he’s bid on four total charters since entering NASCAR — and has balked at paying the current eight-figure asking price for one in a red-hot market.
He instead bought an entire organization in a deal that includes both of Ganassi’s charters.
“This acquisition provides Trackhouse a platform for years to come, enabling us to field multiple teams, elevate our on-track performance, deliver great value for our sponsors and partners, build lasting community impact programs and continue to grow our brand beyond the sports conversation,” Marks said.
Marks has said he not only wanted to expand Trackhouse to a two-car team, but also move the organization to Nashville, Tennessee, by 2023 and operate from the heart of Music City’s entertainment district. He said Trackhouse will be based in Ganassi’s current shop in 2022 and future plans are under discussion.
