Report: Trackhouse Racing president Ty Norris leaves NASCAR team
There’s been a shakeup at the top of Trackhouse Racing, one of NASCAR’s prominent teams, according to a report from The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.
Bianchi reports that Trackhouse Racing president Ty Norris has left the team, according to sources. The Athletic reporter adds that he’s hearing Norris may be headed to Kaulig Racing, albeit in an unknown capacity.
It’s not the first shakeup at Trackhouse Racing this season, though it’s certainly the most high-profile.
Already the organization has made the decision to part ways with driver Zane Smith. Smith has raced the No. 71 for Spire Motorsports in an agreement with Trackhouse.
Following the announcement of his split from the organization, Smith planned to finish out the season in 2024. But he will not return to the organization in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Trackhouse Racing team has tapped Shane van Gisbergen to drive a Cup Series car for the 2025 season, effectively replacing Smith. Van Gisbergen has been quite successful in his stints of higher-level racing so far this year, notably posting a second-place finish just last weekend at Watkins Glen International.
Shane van Gisbergen mistake costs him race
While the second-place finish would normally be a positive, SVG probably won’t view it as such given how it unfolded. He appeared to have a solid lead for the win in overtime, then gave it back with an unusual mistake.
He clipped the bus stop, allowing Chris Buescher to get the speed to catch up to him and make the pass.
The mistake shocked Denny Hamlin, who has seen van Gisbergen, the new Trackhouse Racing driver in 2025, tear up road course after road course.
“I’m as equally impressed with his last lap as I was befuddled of SVG’s,” Hamlin said, regarding Buescher’s comeback on Sunday. “I thought, ‘You give SVG the lead on the last lap, he’s just not going to make a mistake. He’s disciplined enough that he’s not going to make a mistake.’ But this was caused by two things. One thing that’s not talked about enough is that the run that Buescher got through the esses to get close enough to threaten SVG.
“So, if you look coming off of one, SVG actually has a decent lead there, and then I think he just got off-line slightly through the esses, and I looked and at the top of the esses the No. 17 got a really good run on SVG, and at that point, I mean, is SVG just really kind of looking in his mirror, managing the gap, or did he make a mistake there as well? But I think that was the key moment that allowed him to think about how he’s got to get through that bus stop quickly to gap the No. 17. The No. 17 was not within striking distance until he got to the bus stop, and at that point, SVG made a mistake, and he got too close to the barrier on the right. I think he made slight contact with it. It got him slightly off-line, and at that point he missed his apex, and got off into the shit.
“Over the second half of the bus stop, the No. 17 hit his marks and got a good run off, and it was all over after that. So, I think what’s not being talked about enough is, how did the No. 17 close enough, through the eases, to then threaten SVG into making that mistake in the bus stop.”