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Justin Marks had a short and largely unremarkable career as a NASCAR driver across the sport’s top three series.
Marks ran just six Cup Series races, with no top 10s. He had one victory and seven top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series, and he had no victories and just four top 10s in the truck series.
So when he entered the Cup Series as a team owner in 2021 with limited financial backing and zero previous ownership experience, the expectations from fans were not particularly high.
Well, maybe the should’ve been.
Marks and co-owner (and music star) Pitbull have had more success than anyone could’ve possibly imagined in just three shorts years.
The team won its first ever race last season at Circuit of the Americas with driver Ross Chastain. It followed that up with two more wins at Talladega and Sonoma, with the latter coming from driver Daniel Suarez, who became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup Series race.
While 2023 hasn’t been as successful, the team has still won a pair of races with Chastain and New Zealander Shane Van Gisenberger, who won in his first ever start in a part-time role for the team.
Van Gisbergen now looks set to join the team on a full-time basis in 2024, with plans to expand from two to three full-time drivers.
But not everyone appreciates the feel-good story. Marks says he’s received blow back from others within the sport, but he isn’t concerned.
“The biggest lesson and one that continues to happen is how to exist in this industry as a new team and as a challenger team,” he recently told Forbes.. “We’re living around the reaction of the industry. There’s an element of the industry that doesn’t love it because we’re upsetting the traditional model. 23XI is doing the same thing. It’s been an interesting journey to see how the industry is reacting and then continuing to operate strategically in that environment.”
Chastain, like Marks, has not alway been the most popular figure. His aggressive driving style has drawn the ire of some of the sports biggest names.
But if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
He used that style to finish second in the Cup Series standings a year ago. And it appears neither he, nor Marks, are planning on backing down anytime soon.