NASCAR CUP SERIES: GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN

May 10, 2026

Justin Marks

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and wrap up this evening's media availabilities. We'll start with Justin Marks, our race-winning owner. Justin, this win marks the 15th for the organization. That's amazing. Can you talk a little bit about what that means for you guys and what this means for SVG?

JUSTIN MARKS: Yeah, I think, first of all, when we signed our GM key partner deal, it was a four-year deal, but the second half of it we had to put a car in the playoffs to unlock the next two years, and at the end of that first two years we already had five or six wins or something like that.

So if you were to ask me when we started Trackhouse that we would be -- have a win total that we've got right now, I would have been incredibly just -- I wouldn't have believed it. So, I mean, it's just an incredible group of people that we've got.

This new race car has certainly opened the door for us to have the success along with a lot of other teams. Create a lot of parity in the sport. And we have a race car driver that I don't think is at a level that I don't think this sport has ever seen before on these road courses.

By seven wins by this point, you know, the field would have figured out how to close the gap, but he just continues to deliver at such an incredibly high level. We're just so lucky to have him in that car.

Our new sponsor SuperFile this year to get them into victory lane, it's always super special to get a new partner into victory lane.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Did you know how much tires made a difference? When you saw them doing that strategy, you were confident he would rally?

JUSTIN MARKS: You know, in our pre-race meeting, I think we certainly anticipated some fall-off. We knew it would be a difficult race. It would be a big track position race. We were happy where we were starting.

The first part of the race it just didn't seem like -- it just seemed like it was really hard to pass. There was a point in the third stage where I was fairly worried about the 97 strategy knowing that he had to pit and that so many folks were going to stay out.

I just didn't know if there was really enough time to get back there. But once he got out of the pits and went for it and I saw that, you know, just did the calculation of how much faster he was every lap and how many laps were left, it started to get pretty exciting.

But there was a point there where I was a little nervous about it.

Q. I mean, obviously what you do well here probably isn't going to transfer to ovals, but what does winning mean when it appears like you're struggling a little bit on the ovals and trying to get back?

JUSTIN MARKS: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's been easy to see that we've certainly been behind this year. You know, we've been working -- we've been working harder behind the scenes at this race team I think than we have ever in the history of this company right now, because frankly, the way that we started this season, it's unacceptable to us. It's not up to the standards that we set for ourselves.

So there's just a lot of work that's been happening. Honestly, I saw it start to change at Texas. All three of our cars had speed at Texas. I think if the 1 car doesn't speed on the last pit stop, he finishes about fifth or sixth. Connor and Shane at both points in the race had to come back from 30th and drive back up into the top 15, top 16.

So that was good. We have three incredible road racers here and one that's sort of the best ever to do it. It's nice medicine at a time when we needed a shot in the arm.

As far as translation, it really just comes down to preparation and process. No matter how good your race car drivers are, you have to prepare for these races on the road courses just as well as you prepare anywhere else.

I think for us it's just, like, putting a little air in the room for us while we kind of work through engineering the resurgence of our team. I think we're starting to move in the right direction. Things can change very quickly in this sport. It seemed like in week four Toyota was going to win 36 races this year, and already that's starting to change a little bit.

There's some light at the end of the tunnel. We just have to keep our heads down, enjoy today, but just get right back to the grind tomorrow morning.

Q. Justin, obviously Shane came in with the Project 91 thing. Just wondered if there's any plans for anything like that in the future and any more things in the plan from a Trackhouse perspective with guys that can come over and give NASCAR a try?

JUSTIN MARKS: I would say -- I say don't forget about Project 91. That's all I'll say right now (smiling).

Q. Congrats.

JUSTIN MARKS: Thanks. Been a long time since our first meeting.

Q. Yeah, a long time.

JUSTIN MARKS: Big journey.

Q. Yeah. (Indiscernible) 20th today and laid down the fastest lap of the race with ten laps to go, he still had a good day, all things considered. How do you keep his confidence moving up? Texas was a great opportunity. He finished (indiscernible) and then to come here and be as competitive as he was. How do you keep him focused? I know next week is not a non-points race, but Charlotte, he should -- he is expected to run good at Charlotte too.

JUSTIN MARKS: It starts with going to see him right when he got out of the race car today. I'm putting my arm around him and he did a fantastic job. He carried that car really well today.

Obviously he is very competitive. He beats himself up a little bit. You know, it's more about what I said in the competition meeting before the race started today. I said, you know, I don't want us to view this as, you know, one opportunity that we get every once in a while for us to do well. My goal is for us to start every Sunday the way we started this Sunday. And that's going to take a big effort, and it's going to take just focusing on -- like, you just got to fail fast and get over it fast and get to the race shop tomorrow just excited about Dover and getting right back to work.

The good thing is we do get to race every weekend, so you can get over things pretty quickly. He had a great race at Texas. Obviously was pretty outstanding today. And he's a quick study. You know, we have a sea of talented young people out there in the cars tour and ARCA and O'Reilly and Truck Series. To me, you look at all these talented people, it's like what's the difference going to be? What is it that makes someone stand out? To me it's rate of adaptability. It's purely how fast you can learn, be in a new environment and learn it.

Kaden Honeycutt displayed that this weekend in spades. Just absorb it, learn it, execute, and go do it. I feel like Connor, we're at, what, 14 races in or whatever it is this year. I mean, he's already starting to figure out what it takes to drive these cars fast, and we're developing as a team.

You just got to keep him patient, one week at a time. Just don't zoom out too far and look at the big picture. Great performance today. Another opportunity at Dover to just continue to learn.

He's got 195 people behind him along with Ross and SVG. I've been in that position before, and sometimes you just put your arm around him and say, man, that was a great job, but it's 1/38th of the season. We keep digging.

Q. (Off microphone.) Do you think that Kaden is working his way up?

JUSTIN MARKS: I think Kaden is an extraordinarily talented young man. I think he's an extraordinarily talented young man. I think that he's -- I think Toyota has a special one in that kid, and I'll certainly be watching his development.

He grew up on dirt or something like that, and then he comes -- wins the ARCA race and then wins his first truck race on a road course and then goes and wins in the pro late model and gets out of that and gets into late model stock the next day and wins it.

It's that rate of adaptability, man. Just to be able to get in anything and go fast. I'm a big fan of Kaden Honeycutt.

THE MODERATOR: Justin, thanks for your time. Congratulations.