Back in early March, an organization by the name of Team Stange Racing announced they would join the NASCAR Cup Series scene on a part-time basis in 2022.
According to their release at the time, the team planned to compete in an eight-race schedule with former Formula One driver Tarso Marques driving the No. 79 DignityGold DIGau Token Ford.
The Chicago-based group circled Road America on July 3rd as their debut race, but that race will not happen for them, team owner John Stange confirmed to TobyChristie.com.
“We are moving along and working really hard,” Stange explained. “Unfortunately because of the approval process for Tarso we are running into delays. If we spend some crazy money on running another race in Truck or Xfinity he will be ready by Indy. We are working with our sponsor closely to see what we really want to do.”
Stange had previously announced that Marques, 46, would enter the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Sonoma to progress in his approval process, but that plan seemed to have fallen through as well. Now as we reach the mid-point of the season, the team will have to find a way to get Marques on track in another sanctioned series in order to be considered for approval.
Despite some likely doubt and speculation throughout the NASCAR garage and fanbase, the crew at Team Stange remains focused on making their NASCAR Cup Series debut happen along with their longtime sponsors.
The brand itself remains in action overseas as their sportscar program continues to compete and have success in races in Brazil, with the most recent event being the Dignity Gold GT Sprint Races at Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiânia. Their next race in the series will be on July 9th.
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On the ARCA Menards Series side, Team Stange also announced in March that they would be launching a driver development program take top drivers from the international racing scene and place them on a path to NASCAR. The first driver announced to the program was former F3, F4, and GP2 driver Matteo Nannini, an 18-year-old Italian racer.
The July 8th race at Mid-Ohio was the planned debut race for Nannini, but nothing further has been said or announced in that regard. Stange stated previously that the organization had bought their ARCA team from Larry Clement Racing.
Team Stange Racing seems to be sticking strong to the racing scene, but its NASCAR involvement is what is up in the air, currently. If all goes to plan, fans will get to see the No. 79 in action on the Indianapolis Road Course at the end of July.
