Justin Marks of Trackhouse Racing created the 91 Project to give drivers from other racing formats an opportunity to drive a car in NASCAR.  While Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen did not fair well in his NASCAR debut at Circuit of the Americas, Marks found success at the debut street race in Chicago when New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen drove the number 91 car.

After Chicago, Marks had stated that no more Project 91 races were planned for the 2023 season.

However, this week, Justin Marks and Trackhouse Racing announced that not only was the number 91 car going to run another race this season; Shane van Gisbergen is returning to pilot the car.

The three time Australian V8 Supercars champion will return to race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this summer.

After his win at Chicago, van Gisbergen noted that he had one more year with his current contract but could make a return to the United States and NASCAR in 2025.

Van Gisbergen spoke on his return to the U.S. saying, “I miss racing in the States.  I’ve done (the Rolex 24 at) Daytona four or five times now and just the way the American people are and how they go racing, it’s so much more enjoyable. And even doing the media stuff, which I hate, everyone here is really nice. They ask good questions and they’re respectful and it goes both ways. Everyone here has made me feel comfortable, and it’s so enjoyable the way the races are run.”

Trackhouse owner Justin Marks added, “the (Supercars) are very similar and the talent there is unbelievable.  Obviously, we had Marcos Ambrose in the (Cup) Series for a number of years. Scott McLaughlin came over and won in the IndyCar series, and you look at Scott Dixon, guys from that part of the world. There’s so much talent over there, and I sort of thought of it as kind of an untapped resource. …  Shane has had a lot of experience in cars like this. I figured if a guy like him could come over and we could put the program together like we have for Project91, that he could get to speed really, really quickly and be able to contend.”

Noting that three races for the Project 91 car this season was enough, Marks said, “beyond probably three races, it starts to be a third team.  It starts to really kind of drain — not drain, but take resources from the one and the 99 car, which is what we’re really focused on at Trackhouse, getting both of those cars in the championship, being able to make a championship run.  The last thing I want to do is have Project91 be a drain on that or take anything away from that. So I think three is really sort of the limit for us. If we ever expand to a third full-time team, it’s good that we’re going through this exercise right now with the 91 because we’re doing sort of three teams’ worth of work in the shop as we lead into the Project91 races. But I think beyond that, it starts to become a third team deal, which is a whole ‘nother conversation for our company.”

Shane van Gisbergen is not the only international driver to be entered into the road course race at Indianapolis; Australian driver Brodie Kostecki is making his NASCAR debut in the Richard Childress Racing number 33 car, Japanese Formula One driver Kamui Kobayaski will be driving the 23XI number 67 car, and English Formula One champion Jenson Button will drive the number 15 Rick Ware Racing car.