Editor’s Note: Today’s Trackhouse Racing preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2023 Cup Series season, ranked in reverse order of best finish in last year’s owner standings.
TRACKHOUSE RACING
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR Engines
Driver-crew chief pairings: Ross Chastain-Phil Surgen (No. 1), Daniel Suárez-Travis Mack (No. 99)
Team outlook: The outlook for this team in 2023 is undoubtedly only one direction: up. After a tremendous breakout season where both Trackhouse Racing drivers qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and one (Ross Chastain) nearly won the title, primary team owner Justin Marks has the enviable task of balancing pride in the past with increased expectation for the future.
Trackhouse earned its first-ever victories in NASCAR’s premier series – Chastain winning at Circuit of the Americas and again at Talladega Superspeedway and Suárez hoisting the hardware at Sonoma Raceway. The two drivers combined for 21 top-five efforts, both qualified for the playoffs and both ultimately finished among the top 10 in the final championship standings.
As strong as the two-car debut season was for the team, it boasts legitimate “championship favorite” status in 2023 with the benefit of the same driver-crew chief pairings, a huge confidence boost for both teams and drivers. With those first wins in the bucket and increased expectations, the stakes are raised, and that’s exactly what Trackhouse is seizing upon.
“We have to go out there and just continue to work because, in my opinion, if we do exactly the same thing we did last year, it won’t be enough,” Suárez said. “Everyone is always evolving, so we have to continue to work and show up every weekend with the best that we can do.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 CHEVROLET
Experience: Four full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.
2022 stats: Championship runner-up; 2 wins, 15 top fives, 21 top 10s
2023 championship odds (BetMGM): 12-1
RELATED: Ross Chastain 2022 season in review
Outlook: Unquestionably, 2022 was Ross Chastain’s career breakout year in NASCAR. The 30-year-old Floridian’s statistics were exponentially his best ever – and he scored his first two career NASCAR Cup Series wins. He quintupled any previous top-five single-season output, more than doubled his best-ever top-10 work and finished runner-up to champion Joey Logano for the title – all in his first season driving the No. 1 for Trackhouse.
But if expectations were uncertain with the relatively new team and its new driver in 2022, Chastain’s efforts raised the bar going forward. Expectations are up – way up – for 2023, and there’s every reason to believe good things are ahead with a second year under his belt with the team and the confidence he gained personally last season. Can he translate those statistics and his well-documented internal drive into a championship? He has to be seen as a favorite.
Not only did he win twice in 2022, but Chastain had five other runner-up race finishes. His 692 laps led was substantially the most he’s ever been out front in his career (his previous single-season total was 62 laps led in 2021), yet Chastain proved he didn’t have to dominate a race to win it; instead to simply be there at the end and prepared to race hard for that trophy. He scored top-five finishes at superspeedways, road courses, 1.5-milers and short tracks – every type of venue that hosts a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Chastain’s success story is one of the most compelling in modern-day NASCAR, and this year, he’d like to add the celebratory ending: a series championship.
DANIEL SUÁREZ, NO. 99 CHEVROLET
Experience: Six full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.
2022 stats: 10th in final standings; 1 win, 6 top fives, 13 top 10s
2023 championship odds (BetMGM): 40-1
RELATED: Daniel Suárez 2022 season in review
Outlook: As with his Trackhouse Racing teammate, Suárez is coming off a career-best 2022 season. The 31-year-old Mexico native earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series trophy with a traditional sip of wine at Sonoma last summer. His top-five and top-10 efforts were also career highs for the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion. Most encouraging was Suárez finishing 10th in the final NASCAR Cup Series championship standings – his first playoff appearance and most successful final ranking.
The confidence Suárez showed in himself and his Trackhouse Racing team was unmistakable and a big reason for turning it into career statistics. The 2023 season will mark the first time Suárez has had the same crew chief for two consecutive years, and he promises the familiarity will make a big difference in raising his game even more this season.
He led a career-best 280 laps last year, and 2023 will work on building consistency he showed last year with four consecutive top-10 efforts in the summer stretch (July 3-24) – five of six races counting his Sonoma victory in June.
“The expectations are definitely higher than last year,” Suárez said. “Last year, our team was working very hard. We didn’t know where that would take us, but we were hoping it would take us somewhere good. I feel like now, it’s a little bit different because we know what we’re capable of doing. We know that we’re capable of winning and we know that we’re capable of racing with some of the teams that have been doing this for a long time.”
RELATED: Opening championship odds | 2023 schedule
NASCAR.com 2023 team previews schedule
Jan. 23: Non-chartered and teams outside the top 30
Jan. 24: Spire Motorsports
Jan. 25: Wood Brothers Racing
Jan. 26: JTG Daugherty Racing
Jan. 27: Front Row Motorsports
Jan. 30: Kaulig Racing
Jan. 31: RFK Racing
Feb. 1: Legacy Motor Club
Feb. 2: Richard Childress Racing
Feb. 7: 23XI Racing
Feb. 8: Stewart-Haas Racing
Feb. 9: Joe Gibbs Racing
Feb. 10: Hendrick Motorsports
Feb. 13: Trackhouse Racing
Feb. 14: Team Penske