2025 season preview: Trackhouse Racing

Editor‘s Note: Today‘s Trackhouse Racing preview continues NASCAR.com‘s countdown of team previews for the 2025 Cup Series season.

TRACKHOUSE RACING

Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR Engines
Driver-crew chief pairings: Ross Chastain-Phil Surgen (No. 1), Shane van Gisbergen-Stephen Doran (No. 88), Daniel Suárez-Matt Swiderski (No. 99)

Team outlook: This could be the most significant year yet for Trackhouse Racing since it joined the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021. The organization expands to three Cup teams after acquiring a charter from the now-defunct Stewart Haas Racing, with New Zealand native Shane van Gisbergen behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse, while returning are Cup veterans Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez.

“This is an important step for our organization and it‘s a credit to the men and women at Trackhouse Racing whose hard work and success the last few years has led to us expanding to three Cup teams in 2025,” Trackhouse Racing founder and co-owner Justin Marks said.

RELATED: Hélio Castroneves to attempt Daytona 500 with Trackhouse

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 CHEVROLET

Experience: Six full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series
2024 stats: 19th in final Cup Series standings; 1 win, 6 top fives, 14 top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 30-1

Outlook: After finishing a career-best second place in the 2022 Cup season, Chastain has faded from prominence since then, finishing ninth in 2023 and then missing the playoffs last season, finishing 19th, the second-worst ranking of his Cup career. After two wins in 2022 and 2023, Chastain managed just one in 2024. Crew chief Phil Surgen returns in 2025 for his fifth season with Chastain, who has one of the most colorful nicknames in NASCAR: “The Watermelon Man.” The biggest question this year is whether Chastain will rebound from a difficult 2024 season and have a significant resurgence this season.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN, NO. 88 CHEVROLET

Experience: 14 NASCAR Cup Series races, including 12 last season with Kaulig Racing
2024 stats: 12th in final Xfinity Series standings; 3 wins, 7 top fives, 10 top 10s (for Kaulig)
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 65-1

Outlook: The Kiwi driver returns to Trackhouse Racing in 2025, the team that gave him his first break in Cup in 2023, with van Gisbergen paying tremendous dividends by winning in his first career Cup start that year in the inaugural Chicago Street Race. He also is the sixth foreign-born driver to win a Cup race. In his first Xfinity Series season in 2024, van Gisbergen shined with three wins, seven top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, plus three poles. Even though it‘s unusual for a driver to jump to Cup after just one season in the Xfinity Series, Trackhouse Racing co-owner Justin Marks moved quickly to sign van Gisbergen to run in Cup in 2025 after securing a charter from the former Stewart Haas Racing team. Lastly, van Gisbergen will be paired with Stephen Doran, in his second full season as a Cup crew chief.

MORE: Chastain, Suárez find positives in Trackhouse‘s growth with SVG

DANIEL SUÁREZ, NO. 99 CHEVROLET

Experience: Eight full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series
2024 stats: 12th in final NASCAR Cup Series standings; 1 win, 4 top fives, nine top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 120-1

Outlook: After missing the playoffs and going winless in 2023 (finished 19th), Suárez rebounded in 2024 to earn his second career Cup Series win — in thrilling fashion — and made the playoffs to finish 12th, the second-best finish of his Cup career. A good part of that improvement can be Suárez linking up last season with crew chief Matt Swiderski, who returns for his second straight season as Suárez‘s man on top of the pit box in 2025.

BOLD PREDICTION: It seems there‘s almost always a surprise driver every season in the NASCAR Cup Series, and van Gisbergen could be that driver in 2025. A former three-time Australian Supercars champion, he has excelled at virtually every level in his racing career, so it won‘t be a surprise to see him do well in his first full Cup campaign in 2025, including potentially winning one or more races and qualifying for the playoffs.

“This is what I have planned for and I am ready,” van Gisbergen said. “I know there is a tough learning curve ahead, but the best way to learn is to go out and do it.”