The 2022 NASCAR season saw another first-time winner in the form of Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain.
The EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix was decided in its dying stages when Alex Bowman, A.J. Allmendinger and Chastain battled for the win. 29-year-old Ross Chastain was the sixth different driver this year to reach Victory Lane.
The weekend also marked the first NASCAR Cup Series win for the team. Trackhouse Racing has been on a constant rise since the beginning of 2022, their first season with two cars in the field.
Co-owner Justin Marks reflects on how the journey started two years ago when he announced that he would be acquiring Chip Ganassi's long-running Cup Series team.
The 2021 season served as a platform to get them settled into the NASCAR circus with just one car. Marks told Zack Albert of nascar.com that the sales pitch was really simple and said:
“The pitch was, let’s build a great team together. Let’s do all of this together, that was the inside-of-the-building pitch. The outside-of-the-building pitch is this sport is ready for challengers. It’s ready for disruptors. It’s ready for people to come in and challenge the status quo and how we do things, have some fun, look good, try to be fast, win races, have a good time doing it. I just take a lot of pride in seeing everybody’s smiles and happiness today. The pitch was, let’s just do something great together.”
The team celebrated in an unusual fashion after their christening at the Circuit of the Americas. Ross Chastain, who belongs to a family of watermelon farmers, smashed a watermelon on the front straight of the track.
The team looks all set to head into the upcoming Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in Virginia. They hope to keep their momentum going.
Rapper and co-owner of Trackhouse Racing congratulates his NASCAR team
Popular rapper Armando Christian Perez, or Pitbull as people know him all over the world, took to Twitter to congratulate Trackhouse Racing on their first victory. The 41-year-old was elated by the result, and wrote:
"We're just getting started. Congratulations to @RossChastain and the @TeamTrackhouse team!"
See the tweet below:
Pitbull is the co-owner of Trackhouse Racing along with Justin Marks.
The team is in its second season in the highest echelon of stock car racing this year. The Miami, Florida native is known for hit songs like Hotel Room Service and Timber, but he also possesses a true passion for racing.