There isn’t a team on the NASCAR grid today as adept at making newsworthy announcements as Trackhouse. In addition to fielding a car for four-time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves at Daytona next month, the team has announced a strategic partnership with Red Bull for the 2025 season. The fizzy Austrian energy drink will be the primary sponsor of Shane van Gisbergen’s number 88 Chevrolet Camaro, and will sponsor the Cup Series debut of young racing star Connor Zilisch, who will run the 87 car when NASCAR goes to Circuit of the Americas in March.
“It’s an incredible chapter in the history of Trackhouse Racing to welcome Red Bull back to NASCAR,” said Trackhouse founder and owner Justin Marks. “Red Bull is one of the most powerful brands in the world and it’s an honor for us to embark on a partnership with such an iconic company.
“Red Bull and Trackhouse share a passion for racing, stories, and memorable experiences. This is a huge win for our sport and a moment that will resonate with the millions of NASCAR fans around the world. I’m thrilled for Connor, Shane, and every member of Trackhouse to partner with who I consider to be the greatest motorsport company in the world. We are more than honored to welcome Red Bull to the Trackhouse Racing family.”
This marks the first time Red Bull has featured on the NASCAR grid since it closed its own in-house NASCAR team. Red Bull Racing operated between 2006 and 2011, buying Penske Racing’s former headquarters in North Carolina. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars over six seasons, Red Bull Racing only managed to find two victories from 286 race starts. The 2007 season was pockmarked by numerous failures to even qualify for the field, though driver Brian Vickers did manage to find a handful of top-10 finishes. After struggling for years to find any semblance of reliable speed, Red Bull pulled the plug at the close of the 2011 season, selling its assets to BK Racing. Red Bull said at the time that the series struggled to reach its target 18-34 year old demographic.
Van Gisbergen has made a splash in the NASCAR paddock after all but dominating Australian V8 Supercars, winning on debut at the Chicago street course race in 2023. After running in the Xfinity series for 2024, he’s making a run at Cup with a partial season effort in 2025, running the Las Vegas, Sonoma, Iowa, Daytona, and Kansas rounds this season.
Zilisch, at just 18 years old, has proven his mettle in the crucible of sports car racing, showing a lot of promise in Mazda MX-5 Cup before jumping up to stock cars and prototypes. In 2024 Zilisch took class wins in both the Daytona 24 and the Sebring 12 Hour, while also finding wins in the ARCA Menards series, and taking the win at Watkins Glen in NASCAR Xfinity. He’s clearly a generational talent with a full career ahead of him, and pushing him into a Cup car for COTA is a great choice.
