Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks is getting back behind the wheel. The 45-year-old has been confirmed to drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado in the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, joining seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson on an entry list that is rapidly becoming one of the most intriguing of the season.
All three NASCAR national series race at the temporary naval base circuit over the June 19-21 weekend, as the sport marks the 250th anniversary of the United States and its Navy. Johnson is set to drive for Tricon Garage in the Truck race, and Marks now adds a second team owner with serious driving credentials to the field.
A Rule Quirk That Opened the Door
The unusual entry list owes its existence to a scheduling rule specific to the San Diego weekend: full-time Cup Series drivers are not permitted to drop down to the O’Reilly or Truck Series races at the event. With the usual moonlighting stars locked out, teams have turned to names that bring star power of a different kind.
That created the opening for Johnson, the El Cajon native returning to race trucks in his home county, and for Marks, whose day job involves running the Cup Series organization that fields cars for Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch. The pairing of two owner-drivers in the same Truck field gives the inaugural San Diego event a throwback flavor before a wheel has turned.
Marks Calls It an Honor
Marks has not raced in a NASCAR national series since the O’Reilly Series event at Chicago in 2023, and his last Truck Series start came at Michigan in 2022. Across the Cup, O’Reilly and Truck Series, he has made 81 career starts, with a 2016 rain-soaked Mid-Ohio victory in the second-tier series the highlight of his driving resume.
“It’s a unique opportunity to drive in the inaugural Truck Series race at San Diego Naval Base,” Marks said in a statement released by Spire Motorsports. “I’ll enjoy getting behind the wheel every once in a while, and I’m thankful to do it with Spire’s help and with a longtime partner like Jockey. They are celebrating their 150th anniversary and are very supportive of our military which makes the endeavor even more special. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the upcoming race weekend and it’s an honor to be a part of it.”
Spire Motorsports President Bill Anthony framed the deal as the continuation of a long relationship. “Our relationship with Justin goes back a long way, from his time coming up through the sport, so it means a great deal to have him in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevy Silverado for this race,” Anthony said. “We know how important this event is for Justin and Jockey, and we’re proud to support that opportunity while recognizing the tremendous impact Justin continues to have as one of NASCAR’s best advocates and forward-thinking leaders.”
Johnson’s Homecoming Adds the Headline Act
For Johnson, the San Diego weekend is personal. The seven-time champion grew up in El Cajon, less than 20 miles from the naval base, and built his earliest racing foundations in Southern California off-road and short track competition before becoming one of the most decorated stock car drivers in history. His Tricon Garage entry puts him in a Toyota Tundra for what amounts to a hometown send-off event in front of a military audience.
Johnson’s last Truck Series start dates back even further than Marks’ absence, and the spectacle of a 50-year-old legend racing an owner whose teams he competes against at the Cup level is exactly the kind of storyline NASCAR hoped the San Diego event would generate. The base circuit itself is unlike anything on the calendar, a temporary layout on an active naval installation with the Pacific Fleet as a backdrop.
Owner-Drivers Are a NASCAR Tradition
Marks and Johnson racing as owners places them in a lineage that runs deep in stock car history. Alan Kulwicki famously won the 1992 Cup Series championship as an owner-driver, turning down rides with established teams to bet on himself. Tony Stewart claimed the 2011 title driving for his own Stewart-Haas Racing operation, and Brad Keselowski continues to balance both roles today at RFK Racing in the Cup Series. The difference at San Diego is that Marks and Johnson are doing it for the joy of it rather than the points.
Johnson himself has worn both hats since taking an ownership stake in Legacy Motor Club, the organization he has steered through its transition to new manufacturers while making select starts, including his annual Daytona 500 appearances. His Truck Series entry with Tricon rather than his own organization suggests the El Cajon weekend is about the homecoming rather than business development.
For Marks, the start also doubles as a window into the racing surface his Cup team will need to master two days later. Seat time on the unproven naval base circuit, however different a truck drives from a Next Gen car, gives Trackhouse an extra data point on grip evolution, curbing and braking zones that no simulator session can replicate. It would be entirely in character for NASCAR’s most opportunistic team owner to treat a celebratory drive as reconnaissance.
The Jockey partnership also explains the timing from a commercial angle. The apparel company has been a Trackhouse partner since the team’s early seasons, and its 150th anniversary campaign leans heavily on American manufacturing heritage and military support programs, themes that align naturally with a race on an active naval base during the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Sponsorship activations of that scale rarely come together for one-off truck entries, which underlines how much weight NASCAR’s partners are putting behind the San Diego experiment.
A Weekend Full of Crossover Stories
The owner-driver entries stack onto a San Diego weekend already loaded with crossover intrigue. Trackhouse’s own Project 91 program returns at the Cup level with Kevin Magnussen making his NASCAR debut in the No. 91 Chevrolet, a story we covered in detail when the Dane’s San Diego entry was announced. That means Marks will spend the weekend overseeing a Formula 1 veteran’s stock car debut while preparing for his own return to competition in a truck.
Magnussen arrives at San Diego straight from this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he qualified his BMW Hypercar on the front row, an itinerary few drivers in motorsport history could match. Add Johnson’s homecoming, the military anniversary celebrations and a brand-new racing surface, and the inaugural Naval Base Coronado weekend has the makings of one of the year’s most distinctive events.
For Spire, putting Marks in the No. 77 also continues the organization’s pattern of high-profile one-off entries in its truck program, which has served as a proving ground for unusual driver combinations since the team expanded into the series. Jockey’s sponsorship ties the entry together, with the apparel brand’s 150th anniversary and military support programs front and center on the Silverado.
The Truck Series field for San Diego will be finalized closer to the event, but the early entries have already done their job: a race that did not exist a year ago now features a seven-time champion, a Cup team owner and a backdrop unlike anything NASCAR has attempted. The trucks hit the base circuit on Friday, June 19, opening a weekend that culminates in the Cup Series race on Sunday, June 21.
