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Ahead of his fifth Cup Series race this year at Daytona International Speedway, the team confirmed his long-awaited graduation to the Cup Series.
There, he’ll join a long and iconic list of drivers to carry the #88.
Perhaps the most famous of all is Dale Earnhardt Jr, who the team spoke with to get approval to run the number.
Before Earnhardt, there was Darrel Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Donnie Allison, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Buddy Baker, and more to sport the digits.
“One of the things that’s important for Trackhouse — numbers are important,” said Marks.
I was lucky to run a few numbers with so much rich history. Excited to see @shanevg97 and @TeamTrackhouse add a new chapter to it. 88 will have a good home there.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 24, 2024
“They’re important as part of the branding of our sport. Numbers represent history, they represent legions of fans and historic drivers and historic moments in the sport. We don’t take our number choices lightly.
“When we chose the #99 car to begin with, there was a responsibility that came with that – and that’s wins with Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, and a lot of great drivers.The same thing with the #1 with Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray and a bunch of drivers.
“When we think about the numbers and our history and the number, it’s important for us honour that history and it’s important to add to the winning legacy of that number, which we’ve done with the #1 and we’ve done with the #99 and we intend to do with the new one.”
“I called Carl Edward at the end of 2020, I said ‘We’re starting this Cup team and we want to run the #99 number and I want to tell you that we’re doing this and obviously get your endorsement of it and get your support’ – and we did the same with the #1 and with the #88 talking to the folks at Hendrick [Motorsports] and to Dale Jr who I was just texting an hour and a half ago.
“It’s important for us to have the endorsement. I had a great exchange with Jr, saying ‘Look, it’s not my number, I guess I added to the legacy of it. It’s important to me personally’ but he was proud to see it in good hands and that’s just something that’s super, super important to me and to this company.”
Trackhouse Racing will announce sponsors for the #88 in the coming weeks.
