Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing St. Louis Race Advance

Suárez stayed on the lead lap and finished a respectable 22nd, certainly not what he expected in the race’s early going.

He hopes that luck will change Sunday at the 1.25-mile track in Madison, Illinois – just five minutes from downtown St. Louis. Last year, Suárez drove from the back of the field to the top five, but saw his chances for victory go away with a broken jack on a pit stop with just over 50 laps remaining in the race.

It’s going to be a busy week for Suárez.

He’s visiting the street circuit in Detroit on Thursday and Friday logging some practice laps in the TeamSLR Trans Am car in preparation for the Cup Series Chicago Street race on July 2.

He’ll fly to St. Louis Friday night then practice and qualify the Cup Series car on Saturday.

At 3 p.m. CDT Saturday he’ll visit the Freeway Insurance store at 3431 Nameoki Road in Granite City, Illinois for an autograph session and to meet fans. He and Freeway Insurance have been holding autograph sessions whenever Suárez is racing its No. 99 paint scheme.

FS1 will broadcast Sunday’s race at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Meet Suarez in St. Louis

Suárez Notes

• Suárez, 31, became the first driver from Mexico (Monterrey) to win in the NASCAR Cup Series on June 12, 2022 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
• He became the fifth different driver all-time not from the United States to win a NASCAR Cup Series race; joining Marcos Ambrose (Australia), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Earl Ross (Canada) and Mario Andretti (Italy).
• Suárez drives for the third-year team Trackhouse Racing – a team owned by former racer Justin Marks and partner Pitbull.
• Trackhouse Racing won three races in 2022 and placed both Suárez and teammate Ross Chastain in the 2022 playoffs. Suárez finished a career-best 10th in points.
• Suárez, came to America to race. He did not speak English when he arrived in Buffalo, New York.
• He is the only Spanish-speaking driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Suárez became 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.
• In 2013, Suárez finished third in the ARCA Menards Series East final championship standings, the highest finish for an international driver in series history.
• Suárez and fiancé Julia Piquet were engaged in November 2022.
• Suárez received the National Series Driver Award during the NASCAR Diversity Awards in Los Angeles in February.
• Suárez is a fan of the Mexican Soccer team Tigres UANL – he grew up playing soccer.

Career Statistics

This Weekend Will Be A St. Louis Homecoming

For Trackhouse Racing Founder and Owner Justin Marks

Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway is a sort of homecoming for Trackhouse Racing founder Justin Marks who spent the first eight years of his life in St. Louis.

“If it weren’t for St. Louis, I am not sure I would be at Trackhouse Racing or that I would have ever fallen in love with racing,” said Marks, who showed he retains his driving skills when he started seventh and drove through the field Monday to earn his first win of the 2023 season in the Trans Am Series at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

St. Louis is where Marks first caught the racing bug thanks to his grandfather.

The 41-year-old Marks, whose team will field Chevrolet Camaros for No. 1 Ross Chastain and No. 99 Daniel Suárez in Sunday’s second NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.25-mile track, was born at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and grew up in the Webster Groves/Kirkwood area.

He still has family in the area and credits his grandfather Albert Wyrick from Keokuk, Iowa who first took the youngster to area dirt tracks. The two watched Midwestern racers like the Wallace brothers, Ken Schrader, Dick Trickle, and scores of others careen around the local tracks.

He saw the passion of the fans, the commitment from the drivers and the sheer enjoyment of speed. Marks’s father Michael moved the family to Silicon Valley, California when Justin was eight.

Although he left the Midwest, racing never left him.

Marks decided to be a driver, hopping in a variety of sports cars with great success even reaching the pinnacle in 2009 when he joined four co-drivers winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Marks ventured into NASCAR where he competed in 38 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series posting four top-10s and capturing two pole awards. 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 Chip Ganassi Racing.

He even entered the ultra-competitive Cup Series where he competed in six Cup Series races with a best finish of 12th-place in the 2018 Daytona 500.           

“I started to look around and realized if I wanted to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish in NASCAR it wasn’t going to be as a driver,” said Marks. “Deep down, I think I always felt that if I was going to forge a career in racing, it was going to be with an initiative like Trackhouse.”

He made the decision to retire from full time competition and devote his energies to the business of motorsports and entertainment. He moved to Nashville in 2020 and created the Trackhouse Entertainment Group and its Trackhouse Racing division. 

Timing his race team’s entry into NASCAR as the sport moved toward a new more economical model, Marks’ Trackhouse team began competition in 2021 as a single car race team with Mexican driver Daniel Suárez behind the wheel and international entertainment superstar Pitbull as a partner.

The team achieved success on and off the track in 2021 running competitively and reaching out to non-traditional NASCAR audiences. It’s multicultural pit crews, new sponsors and fresh openness were pillars of the Trackhouse philosophy.

Trackhouse Racing won the 2021 NASCAR Diversity Team Award and quickly became a fan favorite. The Trackhouse logo appeared on sports stars like the PGA’s James Hahn, UFC matches and Miesha Tate.

In June of 2021 Marks shocked the racing world when Trackhouse announced the acquisition of Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR assets, a move that secured two full-time NASCAR Cup Series entries and cleared the path for expansion.

In its first season as a multicar team in 2022 working out of its Concord, North Carolina race shop, Suárez and Ross Chastain won three races and both finished in the top-10 in the standings – both are career bests.

Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move on the final lap at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway to earn his way into the final round of the NASCAR Playoffs went viral with hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

Marks won the 2022 National Motorsports Press Association’s (NMPA) Myers Brothers Award during the 2022 NASCAR Awards in Nashville. The award recognizes individuals and/or groups that have provided outstanding contributions to stock car racing.

Marks won the 2022 “Byrnsie Award” from Fox. The award was established to celebrate an individual in the NASCAR Cup Series who showcases the same principles as the late Steve Byrnes embodied — preparation, teamwork and family within the garage area.

Marks pursuits are manyfold.

He is a co-manager of Marks Family Foundation, with several different philanthropic endeavors. The family, led by father Michael Marks, has been a highly successful private equity leader in the Silicon Valley for years.

Justin owns the Trackhouse Motorplex (go kart) racing facility near Charlotte, is an investor in the CARS Tour and the Music City Grand Prix Indycar race in Nashville to name just a few. 

Marks now splits time between the NASCAR team’s North Carolina race shop and his home near Nashville where he and wife Erin are raising two daughters. 

Marks Business Career

• Marks, 41, is the founder and team owner of Trackhouse Entertainment Group and Trackhouse Racing.
• He is a co-manager of Marks Family Foundation, with several different philanthropic endeavors. The family, led by father Michael Marks, has been a highly successful private equity leader in the Silicon Valley for years.
• Before Trackhouse Racing, Marks opened the GoPro Motorplex (go kart) racing facility near Charlotte in late 2012. He entered race team ownership at lower levels, including a venture with late owner Harry Scott in NASCAR’s lower rungs, as well as a World of Outlaws team.
• Marks moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2020 to set up the corporate headquarters for Trackhouse Racing.
• The team competed as a single car team with Daniel Suárez in 2021 with its cars housed at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, North Carolina. 
• The Trackhouse team won the 2021 NASCAR Diversity Team Award for its diversity in the sport and reaching out to new audiences. 
• In June of 2021, Trackhouse announced the acquisition of Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR assets, a move that secured two full-time NASCAR Cup Series entries and cleared the path for expansion.
• In its first season as a multicar team in 2022 working out of its Concord, North Carolina race shop, Suárez and Ross Chastain won three races in 2022. Chastain finished second and Suárez 10th in the standings – both are career bests.
• Marks won the 2022 National Motorsports Press Association’s (NMPA) Myers Brothers Award during the 2022 NASCAR Awards in Nashville. The award recognizes individuals and/or groups that have provided outstanding contributions to stock car racing.
• Marks won the 2022 “Byrnsie Award” from Fox. The award was established to celebrate an individual in the NASCAR Cup Series who showcases the same principles as the late Steve Byrnes embodied — preparation, teamwork and family within the garage area.
• He is an investor in the Music City (Nashville) Grand Prix Indycar race.
• Marks along with Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, purchased the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Tour in January. The professional Late Model and Late Model stock car grassroots series competes at local short tracks throughout the Southeast United States.
• Marks now splits time between the North Carolina race shop and his home near Nashville where he and wife Erin are raising two daughters.

Racing Career

• Marks has been a driver for nearly 20 years enjoying sports car success, including factory rides with Porsche, Acura and BMW.
• Marks competed in six NASCAR 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.
• Marks won the Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 13, 2016 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
• Marks competed in 39 races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series posting four top-10s and capturing two pole awards.
• Marks joined four co-drivers in winning the 2009 Rolex 24 in the GT division.

Career statistics as a driver

Career statistics as a Cup owner

Pitbull To Name Upcoming Album “Trackhouse”

Concord, North Carolina – Tens of millions of people all over the world are about to say the word “Trackhouse.”

In a remarkable next step for the Trackhouse brand promise of merging the worlds of motorsports and entertainment, multi-platinum Grammy-award winning artist Pitbull will release his 12th internationally distributed album on July 7, under the title “Trackhouse.” 

Pitbull, aka “Mr. Worldwide,” joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 in a partnership with Trackhouse Entertainment Group founder Justin Marks, with a mission to promote positivity through the unifying love of music and sports.  

Pitbull, aka “Mr. Worldwide,” joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 in a partnership with Trackhouse Entertainment Group founder Justin Marks, with a mission to promote positivity through the unifying love of music and sports.  

Pitbull was intimately involved with the album cover artwork created by Trackhouse which includes the familiar Trackhouse blue, a cityscape of his hometown of Miami, the historic landmark Freedom Tower overlayed in a form of street art as a reminder of his rise from the streets of Miami.  

“When I joined Trackhouse in 2021, I told the team, we wanted to make history,” said Pitbull who became a fan of NASCAR after watching the movie Days of Thunder as a kid and is now a business partner with Trackhouse Racing.

“Music is the universal language and music is culture. Our mission has been to build a culture at Trackhouse. We want to share it with the world. This is just the beginning of all we are going to do together not only in racing but music and more importantly education. Want to say Justin, Ty (Norris), Daniel, Ross (Chastain) and the entire Trackhouse team it’s an honor to make history together… now let’s step on the gas, Dale!”

The bilingual Trackhouse album features new singles “Me Pone Mal” with Omar Courtz and “Jumpin” with Lil Jon.