With Trackhouse’s PROJECT91, Nascar’s Next Gen Car Is Attracting More International Drivers

Trackhouse Entertainment announced plans Tuesday to field a NASCAR Cup Series entry featuring different “renowned international racing drivers.”

Trackhouse Racing, a division of the group, fields two cars in the Cup series, the No. 99 and the No. 1 Chevrolets with drivers Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain.

Trackhouse Entertainment Group is a venture of former NASCAR driver Justin Marks and Grammy Award winning artist Armando Christian Perez known as “Pitbull.”

The program announced Tuesday is named PROJECT91 and will enter the No. 91 Chevrolet in at least one Cup race this season. Since the advent of NASCAR’s Next Gen car in the Cup series starting this season, smaller teams have started to see more parity then in past years. Chastain has scored two wins for the second-year team both coming this season and both cars have had strong outings during several races.

It’s that new car that seems behind the effort announced Tuesday.

“I truly believe the NexGen car represents an opportunity for NASCAR to enter the global professional motorsport conversation,” Marks said in a press release. “We now have a race vehicle with international technological relevance where world-class drivers from other disciplines can compete at NASCAR’s highest level without the steep learning curve that the previous generation cars required.

“Vehicle advancements used in other forms of motorsports, such as, diffusers, independent rear suspension, the sequential gearbox, and other more common components, have resulted in a platform much less reliant on intimate proprietary stock car knowledge, which has historically made any transition to NASCAR difficult.

“With the formation of PROJECT91, Trackhouse has opened the door for global champions while beginning the process of scaling into an internationally recognized racing brand.”

PROJECT91 isn’t the first team with an international connection lured by the Next Gen car. Team Hezeberg from the Netherlands founded by European driver Toine Hezemans and Dutch entrepreneur Ernst Berg announced late last year they would enter a Ford Mustang in road course events and select ovals in the Cup series with European drivers Loris Hezemans the 2019 NASCAR Euro series champion, and former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve this season.

At the time of that announcement Toine Hezemans credited the Next Gen car as the motivation to field a team in America. The team’s first car tested at Charlotte Motor Speedway last October has part of one of the final group tests.

“The introduction of the Next Gen car by NASCAR is at the core of our decision to build a team and join the NASCAR Cup Series,” he said. “This new concept is the perfect challenge for us, and the model NASCAR built around the Next Gen car makes the American market even more interesting, generating opportunities for a team to prosper.”

Villeneuve finished 22^nd in the season opening Daytona 500 and Loris Hezemans finished 36^th at the Circuit of the Americas in March.

As for Trackhouse and the PROJECT91 effort, the release said the name of the first driver, and the first race would be announced soon.