![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/chastain-smashes-watermelon.jpg\")
Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet, celebrates by smashing a watermelon after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have Brandon McSwain as my crew chief next year,\u201d said Chastain. \u201cI worked with Brandon very early in my career and he has a lot of talent and experience as a race engineer. He\u2019s someone I\u2019ve kept my eye on for a while in case the chance to work together ever came to fruition and I\u2019m looking forward to getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n
McSwain is a Florida native and graduated from University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a mechanical engineering degree. He\u2019s earned 16 wins as a race engineer in the Cup Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecoming a crew chief and working with Trackhouse and Ross is a huge opportunity in my career,\u201d said McSwain. \u201cRoss is dedicated to the sport and puts a lot of time and effort into his craft. I\u2019m looking forward to helping him continue his success while taking the next step in my career. I appreciate Ross believing in me and can\u2019t wait to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shane van Gisbergen will drive the No. 97 for his second full-time Cup Series season. The No. 97 has many special meanings to Van Gisbergen as his father, Robert van Gisbergen, drove the same number during his racing career. In 2013, Van Gisbergen first debuted the No. 97 in Australian Supercars where he created a legacy for the number with 80 wins, 3 Championships, 48 pole positions and 152 podium finishes. In 2024, Van Gisbergen was honored with the special number for his NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie campaign. In the No. 97 entry, he claimed three victories and three pole positions.<\/p>\n
![\"Trackhouse](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/van-gisbergen-leads-cup-race.jpg\")
Trackhouse Racing\u2019s Van Gisbergen Leads Cup race<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to carry a car number that is so special to me,\u201d said 2025 Cup Series Rookie of the Year Van Gisbergen. \u201cWhen Justin offered me the opportunity to change to the No. 97, it was pretty special. It\u2019s a number that means a lot to my family and me. My dad used it in his racing career, so when I started racing, I wanted to use it too, and then basically I\u2019ve used the No. 97 in everything since. I\u2019ve had many special moments with that number and it\u2019s cool to get the opportunity to create even more in the Cup Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the second consecutive season, Stephen Doran will remain crew chief for Van Gisbergen and team. He guided Van Gisbergen to five victories \u2013 Mexico City, Chicago Street Race, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Charlotte Roval \u2013 the most wins by a rookie in a single season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2025 season was pretty special but I\u2019m already starting to look ahead to 2026 and see where we can improve and build off our past success,\u201d said Doran. \u201cShane is one of the best road course drivers NASCAR has ever seen and it\u2019s an honor to be part of it. Just being able to build from the very beginning with Shane and adapt to his driving style and learn off each other, it\u2019s special. I\u2019m really looking forward to accomplishing more together next season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connor Zilisch will drive the No. 88 for his Cup Series rookie campaign in 2026. Zilisch drove the No. 88 Xfinity Series entry for JR Motorsports where he captured 10 wins and was crowned the 2025 Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year. As previously announced, veteran Cup Series crew chief Randall Burnett will guide Zilisch in his first full-time Cup season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool for me to carry on the legacy of the 88 number,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cThat number has quickly become important to me and the history of that number in the sport with Shane, Dale Jr., Dale Jarrett, and everyone who has run the 88. I certainly have big shoes to fill but hopefully I\u2019ll be able to carry that on. I\u2019m really excited to be working with Randall in 2026. We have already started working on how we\u2019re going to approach next season. I feel like we are starting to build that relationship which is very important. I\u2019m looking forward to learning a lot from Randall and his experience in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnett is a Missouri native and a graduate of University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a mechanical engineering degree. He is a veteran NASCAR crew chief with six Cup Series wins and has called 253 Cup races. Burnett won the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship with Tyler Reddick.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnor is a talented young driver and has been successful in other racing series,\u201d said Burnett. \u201cTo be the guy who will guide him in his first full Cup season and doing it at Trackhouse is a privilege. He\u2019s very energetic and dedicated to being a successful driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
2026 marks Trackhouse Racing\u2019s second season with three full-time Cup Series entries. In its five-year existence, the Justin Marks owned team has accrued 14 wins, 57 top-five and 113 top-10 finishes, along with appearances in the NASCAR Playoffs four consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an opportunity for the 2026 season to kind of reset everything with our driver lineup changing, Phil Surgen expressing desire to come off the road, and Todd Meredith joining the team,\u201d said Marks. \u201cWe looked at the organization as whole and see the 2026 season as the next iteration of Trackhouse. Ross, Shane and Connor are all excited about who they\u2019re working with next year, the cars they\u2019re driving, and our partners have been very supportive of the changes as well. This is another big step in creating the Trackhouse legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new crew chief pairings and car numbers will debut at NASCAR Cup Series season opening exhibition race on February 1 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trackhouse Racing announced personnel changes and car number adjustments for the winning three car organization for the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-269902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}