Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks discusses future Project 91 NASCAR races, Indy 500 effort

Trackhouse Racing's Project 91 car returns after a season's absence with four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves seeking to make the Feb. 16 Daytona 500, but car owner Justin Marks said Tuesday he's uncertain if the car will run again this year.

Marks cited his team's focus on its expanded three-car operation in Cup for Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen.

"It comes down to resources, people, bandwidth and we have to take a real look at workflow," Marks said. "We've got three (full-time) cars that we're going to be competing with this year to try to get into the playoffs. … That is really the priority of the company.

"When it comes to kind of the future of Project 91 and how we view the program, it really has to fit around competitive and effective workflow for our three full-time cars."

But Marks noted that his passion project won't go away and that he has a list of drivers he would like to see in a Trackhouse car someday.

The Project 91 car is just one of many ways Marks seeks to extend the Trackhouse Racing name. With teams in NASCAR and Moto GP, Marks said he also has a goal of fielding a car in the Indianapolis 500, although that won't take place this season.

"It's certainly a dream of mine to have Trackhouse represented in that race," Marks said of the Indy 500. "There are continuing discussions. It's no small feat. It's something that we've looked at as a company for a number of years. I think when the time is right, we'll take a real hard look at it. … I don't think that the Trackhouse story will ever be complete without us competing in the world's greatest open-wheel race."

For now, the focus of the Project 91 effort is on Castroneves and getting him comfortable in the car for his first NASCAR Cup event.

Castroneves is scheduled to test Jan. 16 at Talladega in preparation for his attempt to make the Feb. 16 Daytona 500 in the Project 91 car for Trackhouse Racing, a team spokesman confirmed to NBC Sports. NASCAR allows experienced drivers a test to get familiar with a Cup car.

The concept for the Project 91 car is to give renowned international racing drivers a chance to compete in a NASCAR race while also broadening Trackhouse Racing's reach.

Trackhouse Racing debuted the Project 91 effort in 2022 with former world champion Kimi Raikkonen at Watkins Glen.

Raikkonen returned to run at Circuit of the Americas in 2023. Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023 while making his Cup debut with Project 91. He ran one other race that season.

Should the car run again this year, Marks said it likely would be at a road course.

"If you're looking at Formula One drivers or World Endurance Championship drivers, wherever else they might come from, we really want to put these guys in positions to be successful," Marks said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to take someone who's never been in a stock car before, never been on an oval before and take them to Dover, Bristol or Darlington or something like that.

"We want to be successful with the car. I would say primarily it is a road course program."