For former champion Tony Stewart, the year-end couldn’t come soon enough. After a string of disappointing performances, the Stewart-Haas Racing team received another stinging blow. And this time it affected the yet to begin next season.

The burgeoning team of Trackhouse Racing made a strategic move to enlarge its scale of operations. Known for his enterprising recruitment skills, team owner Justin Marks identified another gem for his coffers. But if sources are to be believed, Stewart was left wanting in the trade-off.

Truck Racing champion chooses Trackhouse Racing

Justin Marks’ passion project soared high in only two years of formation. The Trackhouse Racing team achieved a remarkable feat and stood toe-to-toe with far more established teams. Marks’ #99 car registered a remarkable performance in the Cup Series. And the #1 car driven by Ross Chastain entered the playoffs second year in a row this season. However, the entrepreneur’s true genius surfaced when he conceptualized Project91.

The #91 car of Trackhouse Racing lured international drivers into the foray of NASCAR. It started with Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen. And this year, it included New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen. Interestingly, both were previous title holders. Raikkonen was the 2007 Formula 1 champion. Van Gisbergen was a three-time Supercar champion and promptly won the inaugural Chicago Street Race. Inevitably, the newest addition to the team also carried his own conquests.

When Marks aimed to expand his empire, he teamed up with Spire Motorsports to inculcate a racer for his three-car plans. He followed his earlier trajectory of incorporating the best of the best to contract with Zane Smith. Last season’s Truck Series champion would drive a Spire Motorsports vehicle in the Cup Series next year. Smith was previously rumored to be joining Tony Stewart’s team, but Marks beat him to the punch. Smith would eventually come under the fold of Marks’ team for the 2025 season. The announcement came as a surprise after rumors of Smith joining Tony Stewart‘s team.

But it was difficult to compete with Justin Marks’ efficiency and forethought. In a press conference prior to the playoff race in Bristol, Marks conveyed the reasons behind the team’s accelerated growth. He included the support provided by Spire Motorsports for Trackhouse Racing’s development.

“There’s a lot of different ways to envision what growth looks like. It’s no small feat to grow to a third team. So we have to be very methodical and cerebral about how we approach all of the elements to get something like this done… We were obviously able to do it with great friends at Spire to get him experience next year as we, you know, work intelligently, methodically about growing the business.”

Justin Marks further revealed the key reason for his ability to acquire such talent. And Stewart-Haas Racing needed to pay attention.

Tony Stewart must straighten his team’s priorities using Trackhouse Racing’s formula

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Even before this announcement, Tony Stewart’s team was in a dire state of driver vacancies. The impending retirement of their star driver left a gaping hole in their future plans. Their #10 driver, Aric Almirola, stands at the tail end of his career. And none of their remaining drivers qualified for the playoffs.

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In this predicament, Justin Marks was several steps ahead of Stewart. Marks focused on negotiating with the top talent of the sport before finalizing any other details. He locked in Smith prior to assimilating infrastructure for a third vehicle and crew. Elaborating on his thought process, Marks said,

“All I know is that we didn’t want to get all that stuff put together and then go, okay who’s our driver? And who’s at the end of a contract you know? To me, it’s the driver’s always been the most important part of the entire puzzle. And at the end of the day, a 147 people working in the shop and it’s one guy holding the steering wheel at the end of the race,” he explained.

“So that has to be the tip of the spear. And I wanted to make sure that we started this journey knowing who our driver was going to be. And then filling in kind of everything around it.”

Looks like Tony Stewart has a thing or two to learn from Justin Marks’ business acumen to avoid losing any other talent to his competitors.

Read More: ?We?re Not Gonna Start an Xfinity Team? ? Justin Marks Drops Truth Bomb on SVG?s Future in NASCAR With Big 2025 Revelation