Alpha Prime Racing (formerly Martins Motorsports) is an American stock car racing team that competes in the
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Xfinity Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
. The team was founded in 2009 by Craig Martins, and fields the No. 43
Chevrolet Camaro SS
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...
for multiple drivers, the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro SS for
Jeffery Earnhardt
Jeffrey Lynn Earnhardt (born June 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, gran ...
full time, and the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro SS for multiple drivers full-time. At various points, the team has had partnerships with
AM Racing
AM Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielding the No. 22 Ford F-150 part-time for Austin Wayne Self, TBA and the No. 37 part-time for multiple drivers. They compete full- ...
,
Faith Motorsports and
Brandonbilt Motorsports
Brandonbilt Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was owned by Jerry Brown, who is Southern National Motorsports Park's co-owner. The team fielded the No. 68 Chevro ...
. The team was inactive in the 2018 and 2019 seasons and changed to their current name starting with the 2022 season.
Xfinity Series
Car No. 43 history
On September 15, 2022, Alpha Prime Racing announced that Ryan Ellis would return for an increased number of races in 2023 with specific partnership announcements coming at a later date. On December 20, 2022 Alpha Prime Racing announced it would be starting a third car with Ryan Ellis being the primary driver in 25 races with potentially more races being announced at a later date.
Car No. 43 results
Car No. 44 history
![Tommy joe martins (50237163588)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Tommy_joe_martins_%2850237163588%29.jpg)
On December 24, 2019, two years after shutting down its operations, Martins Motorsports announced its return to the
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, with longtime sponsor and family friend Rodney Riessen joining Craig Martins as the team's co-owners. The team will field the No. 44
Chevrolet Camaro SS
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...
for
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
.
The team bought chassis from
GMS Racing
Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field t ...
and
JGL Racing
JGL Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was based in Denver, North Carolina. The team last fielded the No. 24 for Kaz Grala and No. 28 for Dylan Lupton and Tony Mra ...
to help bolster its inventory, which already included a road course car Martins ran for
MBM Motorsports
Motorsports Business Management LLC, operating as MBM Motorsports (and sometimes known as Carl Long Motorsports), is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. M ...
in 2019. The team failed to qualify for the season-opening race at
Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Da ...
, and had to temporarily lay off all of its employees during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Midway through the season, the team hired Buddy Sisco as crew chief and results turned around.
On October 24, Martins recorded both his and the team's first top-10 finish at
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...
with a 10th-place finish; Martins had confirmed a 2021 return earlier that month.
On August 30, 2021, the team announced it had formed a partnership with
Caesar Bacarella
Caesar P. Bacarella (born December 18, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. Bacarella has also driven in the AR ...
, renaming the team to Alpha Prime Racing (after Bacarella's fitness brand) beginning with the 2022 season. Martins, Bacarella and
Rajah Caruth
Rajah Kirby Caruth (born June 11, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado for GMS Racing.
Caruth is one of the five African-A ...
are signed to drive for the team in 2022. On November 22, 2021, Bacarella was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for a violation of the sanctioning bodies substance abuse policy. A team statement issued by Tommy Joe Martins (in his capacity as General Manager) said that Bacarella had taken a workout supplement that he was unaware was on the banned substance list and that Bacarella is expected to be reinstated in time for the first race of 2022. On February 14, 2022, Bacarella was reinstated by NASCAR; Martins would drive the car in the opening race at Daytona, with Bacarella instead driving the No. 45.
On December 13, 2022, Alpha Prime Racing said in a press release that
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Jeffrey Lynn Earnhardt (born June 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, gran ...
will be competing full time for the team in 2023. One of Earnhardt's long-time sponsors will serve as the primary sponsor for the entry for multiple events.
Car No. 44 results
Car No. 45 history
On April 14, 2017, the team announced a nine-race Xfinity slate for 2017 with
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
, car No. 45 and sponsor Diamond Gusset Jeans, starting with the spring race at
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
and focusing primarily on short to intermediate tracks with the exception of the
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
race. After failing to qualify and withdrawing from the first two planned events, the No. 45's schedule was folded into a ride with
B. J. McLeod Motorsports, which culminated with a career-best 11th-place finish at Iowa for the driver.
On January 5, 2021, Alpha Prime Racing announced the number for their second full-time entry to be 45 and on January 6 announced
Sage Karam
Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 43 and 45 Chevrolet Camaros for Alpha Prime Racing and part-time in the IndyCar Series, drivi ...
to be one of the drivers.
On December 2, 2022, Alpha Prime Racing announced that Sage Karam will be returning in 2023 in 17 racing, starting with the spring race at Atlanta. On December 23, 2022, Alpha Prime announced that Stefan Parson will also be returning for select races in 2023. Caesar Bacarella will also be driving the car at Daytona and Talledega.
Car No. 45 results
Car No. 67 history
This car was the team's secondary focus in their
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
foray, with
Clay Greenfield
Clayton Michael Greenfield (born June 3, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Tundra for Cook Racing Technologies.
Racing career
A gradua ...
behind the wheel at Daytona. However, he along with
Willie Allen failed to qualify, making Martins Motorsports 0 for 2 in that race. The car withdrew the next week after no driver was found to drive it. The team then took time off to prepare for the spring Bristol race, where
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
crashed in qualifying and withdrew. To recoup from that, the team did not return until Michigan, when
Benny Gordon
Benjamin Gordon (born November 29, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing driver.
Racing career Early career
Prior to moving up to NASCAR's big leagues, Gordon competed in the NASCAR-sanctioned NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southea ...
qualified the car but then switched to Martins when he failed to qualify the 76.
Car No. 67 results
Car No. 76 history
![76 Tommy Joe Martins passenger side NASCAR Nationwide 2014 Gardner Denver 200 at Road America](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/76_Tommy_Joe_Martins_passenger_side_NASCAR_Nationwide_2014_Gardner_Denver_200_at_Road_America.jpg)
The primary focus in 2014, Nationwide veteran
Willie Allen failed to qualify the 76 at
Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Da ...
and
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
.
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
then took over the reins of what was left as the team's only entry after the demise of the 67, making eight races in the 76 and failing to qualify for four, including its last three attempts. The team primarily
start and park
Start and park is a term used in auto racing, particularly in NASCAR-sanctioned races, to describe the practice of racing teams starting races but pulling the car off the track after just a few laps in order to collect prize money while avoiding e ...
ed, but ran full races at higher-paying events like at
Talladega and
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
. The team's last attempt was at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...
.
Car No. 76 results
Camping World Truck Series
Truck No. 42 history
The team debuted in 2011 at
Lucas Oil Raceway
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. I ...
with Tommy Joe Martins behind the wheel. The team returned at
Iowa Speedway
Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...
in 2017 with
Matt Mills
Matthew Claude Mills (born 14 July 1986) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent most of his career in the English EFL Championship, in which he played for Leicester City, Reading, Bolton, Nottingham ...
behind the wheel and additional races to be determined. Though the car never hit the track that weekend, the scheme was included in the original version of
NASCAR Heat 2
''NASCAR Heat 2'' is a racing video game by Monster Games and published by 704Games. It is the sequel to ''NASCAR Heat Evolution'', and was released in North America on September 12, 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows vi ...
. The additional races were in the team's No. 44 entry. Martins returned for the 2017
Jag Metals 350
The Vankor 350 was a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The 1999 race was 300 kilometers and the 2000 race was 400 kilometers, and became 350 kilometers in 2001. The race moved to the spring for the 2019 season. ...
but a possible suspension problem led to a wrecked truck in practice, and a blown right-front tire three laps into the race ended Martins' weekend. The backup truck was loaned from fellow independent
Mike Harmon
Michael Joseph Harmon (born January 24, 1958) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Harmon Racing. In the past, he drove in ...
.
Truck No. 44 history
The first race for Martins Motorsports was in 2009, when
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
ran a four race schedule, recording a best finish of 21st at
Chicagoland
The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hint ...
. The team and driver returned for one race as the No. 42 in 2011, finishing 33rd at
Lucas Oil Raceway. After taking all of 2015 off to recover from a failed Xfinity Series effort, the team returned in 2016 with Martins as the full-time driver except for a qualifying crash at
Martinsville (spot sold to
Austin Wayne Self
Austin Wayne Self (born March 5, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 22 Chevrolet Silverado for his family team, AM Racing and part-time in t ...
),
Eldora (dirt racer
J. R. Heffner), and a DNQ at
Homestead-Miami.
On February 13, 2017, Martins Motorsports announced a partnership with another family Truck team,
Brandonbilt Motorsports
Brandonbilt Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was owned by Jerry Brown, who is Southern National Motorsports Park's co-owner. The team fielded the No. 68 Chevro ...
, to put driver
Brandon Brown in the 44 truck for "select races". However, the operations of the 44 truck ceased with the 2017 Xfinity announcement except for Heffner again piloting the truck at Eldora. After ceasing operations, owner points of the 44 truck were sold to
Faith Motorsports. When that team ran into organizational trouble mid-season,
Matt Mills
Matthew Claude Mills (born 14 July 1986) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent most of his career in the English EFL Championship, in which he played for Leicester City, Reading, Bolton, Nottingham ...
drove the truck for a race at
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
but crashed out. The much-anticipated return of Heffner the following race was derailed due to a blown engine early in the weekend, the entry never making it to the grid. After the Eldora race, the 44 became a joint-prepared effort between Martins and
AM Racing
AM Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielding the No. 22 Ford F-150 part-time for Austin Wayne Self, TBA and the No. 37 part-time for multiple drivers. They compete full- ...
.
That relationship lasted through the end of the season except for Faith and
Ted Minor running a
Las Vegas shooting paint scheme at Texas.
2017 closure
Following reports two days earlier that longtime crew chief Kevin Eagle had left the team, primary driver and owner
Tommy Joe Martins
Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.
Racing career
Martins began his ...
took to
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position.
In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
and the media to announce the team's closure in late December 2017. The team had plans to compete in a full
2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule; however, two drivers signed to drive on handshake deals failed to follow through, leaving the team's financial security in doubt.
Tommy Joe, commenting on the situation, noted the irony of the situation that the team had been founded as an underdog, family team and now had to rely on
pay driver
A pay driver is a driver for a professional auto racing team who, instead of being paid by the owner of their car, drives for free and brings with them either personal sponsorship or personal or family funding to finance the team's operations. Th ...
s to survive, the antithesis of what the team was founded on. Once those drivers with sponsors backed out, Martins said that his family was unwilling to take the $300,000 or $400,000 loss that the team took in 2017. At different points, he called the decision "hard" to give up on a dream, yet "easy" to make financially.
He also did not rule out a return to the Xfinity Series but the return did not seem likely at the time of closure.
Martins later disclosed that the team had approached
Ford Performance
Ford Performance (formerly Ford Racing) is the high-performance division of the Ford Motor Company and the multinational name used for its motorsport and racing activity.
History
* 1896 – Henry Ford reached a top speed of 20 mph in his ...
to become a partner team but that the manufacturer turned the team down.
References
{{Chevrolet in NASCAR
American auto racing teams
NASCAR teams
Auto racing teams established in 2009