The Toyota Save Mart 350 proved one thing: even Shane van Gisbergen can be vulnerable on street courses. It all came down to a car that underperformed. That's why even after a win, Justin Marks focused on their car not living up to its potential.

During his appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the Trackhouse Racing team owner opened up about how the team needs to provide its drivers with better cars, as posted on their X page. 

"It's great to win a race, but at the same time you know you don't want your driver sort of complaining all weekend going, 'I’m losing the grip quicker than I need to’. I mean there were issues with the race car for sure, as there were with the No. 88 and the No. 1 car too. It’s like you're celebrating, you're happy and win, but then there also this element of, we could have done a better job, prepared well for that race."

Those struggles were evident during the Save Mart 350 as Shane van Gisbergen complained about his car throughout the weekend. During the race, he struggled to overtake the lapped cars in front of him, and these issues became visible in the final 27 laps of the race.

At the same time, he had to fend off a charging Chase Briscoe in second place. In fact, Briscoe got within a foot of van Gisbergen's bumper at Turn 11. Somehow, SVG held on and finished the race 0.357 seconds ahead of his JGR rival.

It looked far from his usual street course dominance. It was a position Marks did not want to put his driver in.

"But you know you don’t really want to be in a position where your sort of crossing your fingers and holding your breath, praying for no caution, you know praying that lapped cars don’t get in the way thats kind of a tough spot to be in so we need to do a better job at getting them race cars so that they can be on offence right to the checkered flag."

Despite getting yet another win this season, Justin Marks believes the work is far from over. He believes providing a consistent car will unlock the full potential of his driver lineup. 

SVG opens up about Trackhouse’s inconsistent NASCAR season

While Justin Marks has taken responsibility for the team's shortcomings, Gisbergen did not hold back when it comes to giving his take on the team's performance so far this season. 

While discussing the preparations with Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports ahead of the Chicagoland race, the No. 97 driver opened up about how the team has been struggling to deliver consistent results. 

"Some weeks I find we can run 10th to 15th pretty easily, and other weeks it's a battle to run 30th," van Gisbergen said. "As a team, we definitely need to be better and prepare as well as we can."

Both van Gisbergen's and Mark’s assessments signal the need for a better car for the remainder of the NASCAR season. 

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar