Kevin Magnussen will pilot Trackhouse Racing‘s Project 91 entry at Naval Base Coronado in his NASCAR Cup Series debut on June 21, the team announced Wednesday morning.
Magnussen, a 10-year veteran of Formula One and a noted sports-car racer, will drive the No. 91 Qualcomm Technologies Chevrolet in NASCAR‘s inaugural race on an active United States military base as Qualcomm will serve as the Official Circuit Partner of NASCAR San Diego race weekend.
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A native of Denmark, Magnussen made 185 career starts in F1 from 2014 through 2024, competing for McLaren, Renault and Haas throughout his time in the sport, earning a career-best second-place finish in his debut at Melbourne in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix for McLaren. In a move to sports cars in 2021, Magnussen won the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition for Chip Ganassi Racing at Belle Isle alongside co-driver Renger van der Zande. He also made one NTT IndyCar Series start in 2021 at Road America before rejoining F1 from 2022 through 2024.
In an already diverse career, Magnussen will now add stock-car racing to an already impressive resume.
“I‘m incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to compete in NASCAR,” Magnussen said in a team release. “What Justin Marks and Trackhouse have done with Project 91 is unique, to provide drivers from outside of the NASCAR world with a chance to compete at this level. I‘m proud to have this opportunity.
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“I‘ve already spent time with the team in North Carolina — meeting everyone, doing the seat fit, going through pit-stop procedures and all the details that come with preparing for a NASCAR weekend. They‘re an awesome group of people, incredibly dedicated, and just as excited about this debut as I am. I really can‘t wait to get to San Diego and experience it all for the first time.”
Magnussen will have three teammates on track at the San Diego street course, joining full-time competitors Ross Chastain, Connor Zilisch and Project 91 alum Shane van Gisbergen on track. Phil Surgen, the team’s director of technology, will serve as Magnussen’s crew chief on the No. 91 car. Surgen previously served as crew chief for five years alongside Chastain. As part of the team’s partnership with Qualcomm, Trackhouse notes in its press release that the technology company will aid the four-car organization‘s on-track performance with artificial intelligence.
“Through the Qualcomm Dragonwing™ AI on-prem appliance, the competition and performance team will gain efficient insights into real-time data, streamlining faster and more strategic in-race decision-making,” the release states. “The technology will analyze and distribute complex data and radio communications to race engineers at both the track and race shop.”
While the 33-year-old has never competed in NASCAR, the Danish driver has gotten behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car before. His time as a competitor for Haas F1 Team led to a NASCAR crossover in 2022, when he and then-teammate Mick Schumacher traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway, riding shotgun with Chase Briscoe around the track‘s Roval in a Gen 6 Cup car before ripping laps of their own.
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“NASCAR, it‘s a different animal to a Formula One car,” Magnussen said after his first experience. “That‘s what we‘re used to. When you drive in NASCAR, as a Formula One driver, it‘s like you‘ve never driven a race car before. It‘s completely different.
“Everything you know is out of the window. It‘s a lot of fun. You‘ve got to relearn everything again and it‘s like driving a race car for the first time. It‘s awesome.”
Briscoe watched as the duo caught on quickly, noting lap times were only “three or four seconds off” in only a handful of laps.
“I think if they ever wanted to come try it, they‘d definitely be competitive,” Briscoe said.
Preview of the No. 91 Qualcomm Chevrolet Kevin Magnussen will drive in NASCAR at San Diego.
Magnussen will get his first legitimate chance when NASCAR travels to Coronado for its own moment of history.
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Trackhouse fields its Project 91 program with the intent of expanding Trackhouse Racing‘s global reach by fielding an Open entry in the Cup Series for renowned international racing drivers, an effort led by team owner Justin Marks that has hit the track five times since the program‘s inception in 2022. Magnussen’s appearance marks the first for Trackhouse Racing‘s Project 91 entry since the 2025 Daytona 500, when four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves made his NASCAR debut.
“I‘m thrilled to be able to bring back Project 91 again this year, especially at San Diego,” said Marks. “We were waiting for the right opportunity with the right partner and driver to bring this Project 91 entry to fruition. Qualcomm is a worldwide brand, and Kevin Magnussen is a global driver, and both are elements we look for when it comes to running Project 91.”
Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, served as the team‘s proof of concept when he debuted at Watkins Glen International in 2022, ultimately making two Cup starts for the organization.
The program exploded on the scene, though, thanks to three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, when his NASCAR debut culminated in a stunning victory in July 2023 in NASCAR‘s inaugural race on the Chicago Street Course. The New Zealander made one more Project 91 start that year for Trackhouse but ultimately springboarded a full career shift to NASCAR, with SVG now in the midst of his second full-time season and sitting 12th in the current points standings.
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Magnussen will make Project 91‘s sixth start in the Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado on Sunday, June 21 (4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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