Justin Marks

Justin Marks (born March 25, 1981) is an American racing driver, entrepreneur, and owner of Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing.

Marks has competed in sports car and stock car racing, competing in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

He also served as a road course ringer in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Cup Series.

Marks was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

During his youth, he went with his grandfather (who lived in Iowa), to see local Midwest racers such as Dick Trickle, Ken Schrader, and the Wallace brothers battle on dirt tracks.

His family moved to Menlo Park, California, when Marks was eight.

Marks attended race school while in high school and in 1998 competed in his first race, in the street stock division at Altamont Raceway Park in Tracy, California.

At the same time as his racing career was beginning, he was attending California State University with the intention of obtaining a degree in sports marketing.

Marks withdrew from college 14 credits shy of completing his degree to focus on racing.

At 18, Marks entered the SCCA Regional Racing Series, and later the Speed World Challenge Series.

With success in the SCCA, Marks moved to the Rolex Sports Car Series GT Class in 2004 where he met good friend Joey Hand.

Switching between the GT class and the World Challenge, Marks racked up four wins, eight podiums, and thirteen top tens between the two series.

In 2005 Marks again raced in the Rolex Sports Car Series where he won 3 races with teammate Joey Hand.

At the same time, Marks teamed with Bill Auberlen in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Turner Motorsport, finishing 3rd in points with 5 poles and 5 wins in 9 starts.

In 2006, Marks left road racing to pursue a career in NASCAR.

In 2006, Marks raced for RAB Racing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, driving their No. 65.

Although he did not pick up any wins in his two years there, Marks turned many heads with his driving ability.

In 2007 he was picked up by Germain Racing of the Craftsman Truck Series to drive their No. 03 truck.

Marks again impressed many with an eighth-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This cemented his future as the driver of the No. 9 Crocs/Construct Corps Toyota for 2008, running for Rookie of the Year.

In 2008, Marks raced in the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the ARCA RE/MAX Series for a number of teams.

He won the pole position for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway as well as the ARCA RE/MAX Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Marks returned to the Camping World Truck Series for 2011, driving for Turn One Racing in the No. 66 Chevrolet.

He brought the car home 12th, which was by far his best oval track finish in the Cup series.

He later partnered with Premium Motorsports to drive the No. 15 at Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval.

In 2013, Marks made his Sprint Cup Series debut at Sonoma Raceway in the 2013 Toyota/Save Mart 350, driving the No. 7 of Tommy Baldwin Racing, substituting for Dave Blaney.

Marks had little experience in the Generation 6 cars, having run the cars only once in a road course test at Virginia International Raceway.

The following year, Marks was signed by Turner Scott Motorsports to run the No. 31 in the Nationwide Series at Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

On February 10, Marks announced he would return to the Cup Series in 2015, driving the No. 29 for RAB Racing in the Daytona 500, while also running the No. 29 in the Xfinity Series and the No. 35 with Win-Tron Racing in the other Daytona races.

However, Marks failed to qualify for the 500, and crashed out of both the Xfinity and Truck races, finishing last in the latter.

In June, he joined Front Row Motorsports for the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

In the summer of 2015, Marks ran the road course races at Road America and Mid-Ohio in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, owned by Harry Scott, Jr.

In 2016, Marks expanded his Chip Ganassi Racing schedule in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 42 in several races starting at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

At the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Marks led a race-high 43 laps in a race plagued by rain to claim his first NASCAR victory; he dedicated the win to former Ganassi driver Bryan Clauson, who had died earlier in the week in an accident.

In 2017, Marks returned to the Xfinity Series driving the No. 42 for Chip Ganassi Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course finishing 9th and at Road America finishing 4th.

On October 15, Marks joined Tommy Baldwin Racing's No. 7 for his return to the Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway.

It was his first non road course start in the Monster Energy series.

However he finished last after getting into an incident.

In 2018, Marks ran the season opening Daytona 500 in the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing with support from Premium Motorsports.