By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Nearly every multi-car organization in NASCAR experiences the ups and downs of auto racing every weekend.
For Trackhouse Racing boss Justin Marks, however, this weekend at Watkins Glen International proved to showcase the highest highs and lowest lows in a matter of 24 hours.
Saturday saw Trackhouse’s two top prospects, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch, race under the JR Motorsports banner and tangle for the lead. The contact led van Gisbergen into the wall and out of the race. Zilisch went on to win.
Moments later in Victory Lane, the 19-year-old fell while exiting his No. 88 and struck the ground, resulting in a broken collarbone and a withdrawal from Sunday’s Cup race.
And on Sunday, SVG brought home his fourth win of 2025, gapping second place by more than 11 seconds after leading 38/90 laps.
What. A. Weekend.
“A very eventful weekend, that’s for sure,” Marks said. “Some pretty high moments and then obviously a tough one last night.
“I think when you look back on weekends like this, it’s just like why we’re doing it. This is why we’re focused and working so hard in the race shop because we feel like we have a tremendous opportunity with Shane. We have a tremendous opportunity with Daniel [Suarez] and with Ross [Chastain] and then obviously with Connor coming up.”
Though Zilisch was unable to compete in what would have been his fourth Cup start in Trackhouse’s No. 87, he did attend the race alongside Marks, who explained his pride in seeing the Xfinity point leader learn all he could from the sidelines.
“I think it was important for him [to show up Sunday],” he said. “He sat in the bus with me today and we were watching timing and scoring together. I think that he doesn’t want to be away. He wants to be at the racetrack. His whole life is about being a racecar driver.
“For a guy like Connor, even if he’s not in the racecar today and he’s not feeling that well, he feels like there’s always an opportunity to learn something.
“I think he just wanted to show the fans and show the sport that he was upright and he was okay and he’s committed and he really wants to get back as fast as he can. I’m glad that he came today and showed that he’s a part of this company.”
Along with SVG’s victory, the first time a rookie has ever won four races, Trackhouse also had a triple top 10 with Chastain [10th] and Suarez [seventh], respectively.
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Between Zilisch’s showcase of commitment and van Gisbergen’s showcase of road course royalty, Marks leaves New York proud of his team’s strength.
“You look back and you go, we recognized incredible talent with Connor, made a commitment to him and helped him get an opportunity to showcase his talent. He did that yesterday,” he said. “Then today Shane just continues to go showcase why we’ve made a long-term commitment to him, why we brought him over here from New Zealand and built this team around him.
“Because, in a sport like this where winning is so important and it’s so hard to do, if you can catch some lightning in a bottle like we’ve got with SVG, you’ve got to really lean into it.
“That’s what we’ve done. You look at the weekend, and it’s like seeing a plan come together.”