The Good Ol’ Boy from Brazil Wants to Win the Daytona 500

A long shot? Oh, my, yes, but you wouldn’t know it from listening in on a Zoom call press conference Tuesday morning with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Justin Marks, who is the founder and co-owner of Trackhouse Racing, which fields three Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup series for drivers Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and, beginning this year, Shane Van Gisbergen.

Plus one more Chevrolet next month for Castroneves. The Zoom call was to formally announce that Castroneves, who is 49 and who has never raced a NASCAR-type car, will attempt to make his first NASCAR start at the Daytona 500 on February 16 in a Trackhouse Racing Chevy as part of Trackhouse’s Project91. The car should be fast: He’ll have full sponsorship from Wendy’s; an experienced crew chief, Darian Grubb, who won a championship with Tony Stewart in 2011, and an engine built by ECR, a subsidiary of Richard Childress Racing.

But driving an IndyCar, which weighs about 1700 pounds, or an IMSA GTP car, which weighs about 2300 pounds, is a lot different than a 3400-pound NASCAR Cup car, especially when you have to haul it down from 190 mph to dive onto pit lane, where the speed limit is 55 mph. Castroneves will have one 50-minute practice session to get used to the new car, and how it performs on the high-banked, 2.5-mile oval. He’s won the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race three straight years, but that’s on the Daytona road course, not the whole oval track.

One thing Castroneves has on his side: Confidence. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I could win,” he said. “I’m excited. Obviously it’s something I have been thinking about. I’ve always wanted to do it. When I was with Team Penske, I asked about it, but Roger never allowed me to do it. But you’ve got to keep pushing, and one day your dream may come true. And here it is! We’re gonna try to win the Daytona 500.”

Trackhouse has only been around since 2021, when the team had Suarez as its lone driver. Then Marks bought out the Chip Ganassi Racing team when Ganassi decided he wanted out of NASCAR, and Trackhouse became a two-car team in 2022, with the hiring of driver Chastain. Rapper Pitbull is a partner in the venture; he’s in the sport deep enough to have titled his 2023 album, “Trackhouse.”

Also in 2022, Trackhouse, arguably the most innovative NASCAR team on the grid, announced the formation of Project91, a part-time entry designed to provide a one-off ride in NASCAR for international drivers to sample the series. The first would be Kimi Räikkönen, the Finnish 2007 Formula 1 champion, who drove the number 91 car at the Watkins Glen road course in 2022, and Circuit of the Americas in 2023. It was an interesting experiment, but Räikkönen finished 37th and 29th in the two races.

Next up for Project91 was NASCAR’s inaugural Chicago street race, where New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen, a champion in Australia’s Supercars series, would make his debut in the Trackhouse number 91. Stunning the NASCAR world, van Gisbergen qualified third, then drove to an easy victory in the Grant Park 220, the first time in 60 years that a driver won in his first NASCAR race. Trackhouse promptly signed van Gisbergen, racing him in the NASCAR Xfinity series in 2024, and he’ll move full-time to the Cup series in 2025.

“This is exactly what Project91 is all about,” Marks said. “Bringing the best drivers in the world, from different disciplines, to the great sport of NASCAR.” Marks said that when he began Project91 he had a list of a dozen names of drivers from around the world that he’d like to bring in, and Castroneves was on that list. “When it became clear that this was something Trackhouse could do with Helio, that list of 12 became one. The coolest thing about Project91 is being able to make those phone calls to drivers and say, ‘Hey, you want to come do this?’ And when I hung up after that call with Helio, it was clear that this was a guy who would be excited about it, dedicated to it, and put together a great effort. We’re thrilled to have him in the house.”

That brings us up to date with Trackhouse and Project91, which was idle in 2024, but hopes to put Castroneves in the 2025 Daytona 500. Arguably the biggest challenge for Castroneves isn’t the race itself, but just making the starting field. Trackhouse owns three NASCAR charters, which gives its three full-time drivers a guaranteed starting spot in every race. There are 36 of those charters out there, and the Daytona 500 field is 40 cars, which leaves just four spots open. To get one of those four spots, non-chartered drivers will have to qualify on time, or race their way into the 500 in one of the two “Duels,” which are 150-mile races.

And that’s what Castroneves will have to do. In 2024, only two drivers failed to make the cut of the 42 entered. But there will be more unchartered teams trying to make the field this year—possibly as many as 10. Those expected include seven-time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson, 2017 champ Martin Truex, Jr. Mike Wallace, J.J. Yeley, B.J. McLeod, and Anthony Alfredo, and at least three more entries may happen, possibly including drivers Corey LaJoie or Kaz Grala.

Castroneves did race on the full Daytona oval in the IROC series from 2002 to 2005, “which will help a lot, even if it was a completely different car,” Castroneves said. “At least that gives me a little bit of understanding of what I need to do. The muscle memory is going to come back.”

Marks said that Castroneves will soon test the number 91 at Talladega Superspeedway, but other than that, it’ll be baptism by fire at Daytona. He will have that 50-minute practice session on Wednesday, February 12, with qualifying at 8:15 p.m. that night. The two 60-lap Duels will run Thursday night, beginning at 7 p.m., and the field will be set after those races. If Castroneves and other unchartered teams make the race, then there’s a 50-minute practice for them Friday, and another one on Saturday.

It’s a little surprising that Marks didn’t rent an ARCA Menards Series car for Castroneves: The ARCA cars are very similar to Cup cars, and ARCA has two full days of practice at Daytona this Thursday and Friday, plus a 200-mile race on Saturday, February 15, the day before the 500. He could have gotten some very valuable seat time. [Update: On January 8, Trackhouse announced that Castroneves would, in fact participate in the ARCA 200 at Daytona, driving the #82 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet.—Ed.]

As for Marks, the 43-year-old son of “a highly successful private equity leader in Silicon Valley” is clearly having fun. He’s a former driver in the NASCAR, ARCA and the IMSA sports car series, winning his class in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and he still races some in Trans Am. He owns Trackhouse Motorplex near Charlotte, arguably the country’s top karting track, which is regularly visited by NASCAR drivers and their families (USA Today called it the “racer’s Disneyland”). He started Trackhouse MotoGP last year with factory backing from motorcycle manufacturer Aprilia; it’s the only American team in the world’s premiere cycle series. Along with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton, Marks is co-owner of the CARS Tour Series, a modern incarnation of the grassroots USAR Hooters Pro Cup series. And he co-owned a World of Outlaws sprint car team with Kyle Larson.

Regardless of how Castroneves does or doesn’t do next month at Daytona, he’s locked in for a ride in May’s Indianapolis 500 with Meyer Shank Racing, the team he won with there in 2021. In fact, Castroneves is part owner of Meyer Shank. If he can score a fifth win at Indy, it will break the tie he’s in with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears, and make Castroneves the winningest driver in the 114-year history of the Indianapolis 500.

Castroneves already has a killer resume. Can he add a Daytona 500 victory to it? If not, it won’t be for lack of trying.