Gonna be seeing a lot more of that familiar bright purple of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge on the NASCAR track in 2022.
The famous Nashville honky tonk has signed with Trackhouse Racing to sponsor driver Daniel Suarez in the #99 Cup Series car for six races next year, including the season-opening Daytona 500.
Tootsie’s sponsored Suarez this past season during the Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. And while the Cup Series is in Music City for its Champions Week and end-of-year awards ceremony, Nashville’s most famous honky tonk made the announcement that they would be expanding their role in the series for the upcoming season.
The team’s parent company, Trackhouse Entertainment, is already based in Nashville – a joint venture between former NASCAR driver Justin Marks and Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull.
And Marks has already expressed interest in moving the race team to Music City, with hopes of building a race shop that would include a music venue and bar in the heart of downtown Nashville.
Trackhouse will also be expanding to a two car team this year with the addition of Ross Chastain in the #1 car.
With the hopes of becoming “Nashville’s race team,” it only makes sense for Trackhouse to carry the colors of one of Nashville’s most famous honky tonks.
And in addition to Tootsie’s, the #99 car will also sport the logos of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, as well as “Ole Red,” the Blake Shelton-branded bar that’s operated by Opry Entertainment.
In announcing the expanded sponsorship, Marks said it’s just another step in becoming Nashville’s team:
“A Tootsie’s car on the streets of Nashville and in the Daytona 500. There’s nothing better than that. We are also grateful the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Opry Entertainment are joining with us in 2022. We are certainly going to be team Nashville.
We have enjoyed our relationship with Tootsie’s since they joined us this summer and both sides wanted to expand the program in 2022. They saw the power of NASCAR and we saw the fan reaction to Tootsie’s on our race car.”
In addition to the season-opening Daytona 500, Suarez will sport the Tootsie’s paint scheme at both races at Bristol Motor Speedway, both races at Talladega Superspeedway, and Nashville Superspeedway.
