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Tommy Joe Martins

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Tommy Joe Martins
Martins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019
BornThomas Joseph Martins
(1986-12-07) December 7, 1986 (age 37)
Como, Mississippi
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
128 races run over 7 years
2022 position46th
Best finish20th (2020, 2021)
First race2014 Blue Jeans Go Green 200 (Phoenix)
Last race2022 Andy's Frozen Custard 300 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
28 races run over 4 years
2017 position91st
Best finish23rd (2016)
First race2009 AAA Insurance 200 (IRP)
Last race2017 JAG Metals 350 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of October 26, 2023.

Thomas Joseph Martins (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver and owner. He currently competes part-time in Asphalt Super Late Model competition, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing.

Racing career

[edit]
Martins racing at Road America in 2014

Martins began his racing career at the age of five in karting in his native Mississippi. After financial issues caused him to have to quit racing at 16, he attended the University of Mississippi seeking a degree in journalism. During his sophomore year, he resumed competition, driving in Sports Car Club of America-sanctioned events.[1]

Choosing to pursue a racing career, Martins joined Nashville-based Baker Curb Racing, then moved to family-owned Martins Motorsports to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, running five races between 2009 and 2011.[1] He had one truck and an old engine from Roush Racing.[2] After moving to the ARCA Racing Series on a limited basis, Martins returned to NASCAR in 2014, and planned to run the full Nationwide Series schedule.[3] However, the plans fell apart, and Martins did not race in 2015. In 2016, Martins purchased the owners points of Billy Boat Motorsports' No. 15 truck with plans to run the full 2016 Truck schedule.[4]

Martins ran his own No. 44 truck for the duration of the 2016 season. He ran 20 races, failed to qualify at Homestead-Miami Speedway and recorded a best finish of 15th at Michigan International Speedway;[5] however, he missed the Alpha Energy Solutions 200 at Martinsville Speedway after wrecking his truck in qualifying and his spot on the grid was taken by Austin Wayne Self.[6] He also maintained a blog throughout the 2016 season chronicling his journey that gained notoriety within the NASCAR community.[7] His largest blog post was about how the financial situation in NASCAR needed to change.[8]

For 2017, Martins paired up with another family team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, to split the 2017 schedule in the 44 truck.[9] At Daytona International Speedway, Martins was hired to drive the No. 99 Chevrolet for MDM Motorsports, where an early crash relegated him to last in the 32-truck field.[10] Martins would be in the No. 44 truck next week, finishing 23rd at Atlanta. On April 14, 2017, it was announced that Martins would return to the Xfinity Series, bringing his family team to compete for nine races in the No. 45 Chevy.[11] Despite initially planning to begin his schedule at Bristol Motor Speedway, the team withdrew from the weekend due to concern about rain canceling qualifying and preventing the team from attempting to make the race.[12] Martins stepped away from the Truck team to focus on Xfinity[13] and later moved to B. J. McLeod Motorsports to run a partial Xfinity schedule.[14]

After running Martins Motorsports in collaboration with AM Racing and Faith Motorsports in 2017,[15] Martins closed his Truck team and announced another partial Xfinity schedule with McLeod in 2018.[16] He ran over half the schedule with McLeod in 2018, continuing to bring awareness to the performance divide that underfunded teams face; he compared the Xfinity Series to a sports car race with different classes of cars, with Cup-affiliated teams as prototypes and small teams like BJMM in the Grand Touring division.[17]

Martins' 2019 Xfinity car at Atlanta Motor Speedway

With Vinnie Miller joining B. J. McLeod Motorsports for 2019 full-time, Martins said he will likely run fewer races than he did in 2018 for the team.[18] At New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, Martins announced that he would leave BJMM for MBM Motorsports after the New Hampshire race for a partial slate in the back half of the 2019 Xfinity Series season. He estimated his MBM schedule at about six races, including all four road course races, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. Citing more opportunities in the Xfinity Series and a chance to run in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with MBM, Martins implied that he held no ill feelings toward McLeod and instead thanked the team for the opportunities throughout his tenure with the team.[19] He ran his first race for MBM at Watkins Glen International, driving the No. 66.[20] On December 8, Martins announced he parted ways with MBM Motorsports.[21] Later in the month on December 24, Martins revealed Martins Motorsports' return for the 2020 Xfinity season as he intended to commit to a full-time schedule.[22]

After a slew of issues in the first half of the 2021 season, Martins claimed his first career Xfinity Series top-ten at Texas Motor Speedway in October.[23] On August 30, Martins confirmed a partnership with Caesar Bacarella to co-own Alpha Prime Racing, with Martins switching to a part-time schedule in 2022 to split the No. 44 with multiple drivers.[24]

Motorsports career results

[edit]

NASCAR

[edit]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

[edit]
NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2014 Martins Motorsports 76 Ford DAY PHO
35
LVS
39
IOW
36
IND
DNQ
IOW GLN MOH BRI ATL RCH CHI KEN DOV KAN CLT TEX
PHO HOM 35th 124 [25]
67 Dodge BRI
DNQ
CAL
76 TEX
35
DAR
30
RCH
36
TAL
14
CLT
31
DOV
35
MCH
DNQ
ROA
31
KEN
DNQ
DAY
DNQ
NHA CHI
67 Ford MCH
38
2017 Martins Motorsports 45 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH
DNQ
TAL CLT DOV 39th 90 [26]
B. J. McLeod Motorsports 78 Chevy POC
29
MCH
28
IOW
11
DAY KEN NHA
29
IND
26
IOW
27
GLN MOH BRI
33
ROA DAR
31
8 RCH
29
CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM
2018 DAY ATL
33
LVS
25
PHO
27
CAL
24
TEX BRI
26
RCH
23
CLT
24
POC
25
DAR
22
PHO
35
HOM
26
31st 216 [27]
Toyota TAL
18
DOV
78 Chevy MCH
24
IOW
32
CHI DAY KEN NHA
20
IOW
21
MOH
19
BRI ROA IND
27
LVS RCH CLT DOV KAN TEX
Toyota GLN
40
2019 99 DAY ATL
31
LVS PHO
35
CAL
20
TEX
19
BRI
26
RCH TAL DOV
21
CLT POC MCH
18
IOW CHI
28
DAY KEN NHA
25
IOW 28th 206 [28]
MBM Motorsports 66 Toyota GLN
28
MOH
18
ROA
25
IND
24
13 BRI
31
DAR
35
61 LVS
25
RCH CLT
35
DOV KAN TEX PHO
17
HOM
2020 Martins Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY
DNQ
LVS
32
CAL
18
PHO
28
DAR
26
CLT
24
BRI
23
ATL
22
HOM
31
HOM
20
TAL
15
POC
30
IND
35
KEN
33
KEN
27
TEX
15
KAN
18
ROA
18
DAY
13
DOV
21
DOV
15
DAY
14
DAR
26
RCH
15
RCH
26
BRI
24
LVS
22
TAL
15
CLT
27
KAN
14
TEX
10
MAR
16
PHO
34
20th 481 [29]
2021 DAY
24
DAY
24
HOM
18
LVS
15
PHO
17
ATL
18
MAR
34
TAL
11
DAR
15
DOV
20
COA
35
CLT
29
MOH
39
TEX
21
NSH
20
POC
20
ROA
15
ATL
16
NHA
21
GLN
19
IND
21
MCH
19
DAY
18
DAR
37
RCH
37
BRI
23
LVS
14
TAL
18
CLT
33
TEX
18
KAN
23
MAR
40
PHO
24
20th 497 [30]
2022 Alpha Prime Racing DAY
24
CAL
31
LVS PHO TEX
14
TAL CLT LVS HOM MAR PHO 46th 87 [31]
45 ATL
20
COA RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR
17
TEX CLT PIR NSH ROA ATL NHA POC IND MCH GLN DAY
B. J. McLeod Motorsports 5 Chevy DAR
38
KAN BRI

Camping World Truck Series

[edit]
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCWTC Pts Ref
2009 Martins Motorsports 44 Ford DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP
22
NSH
27
BRI CHI
21
IOW GTW
27
NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO HOM 46th 361 [32]
2011 Martins Motorsports 42 Ram DAY PHO DAR MAR NSH DOV CLT KAN TEX KEN IOW NSH IRP
33
POC MCH BRI ATL CHI NHA KEN LVS TAL MAR TEX HOM 77th 11 [33]
2016 Martins Motorsports 44 Chevy DAY
32
ATL
25
MAR
QL
KAN
32
DOV
24
CLT
25
TEX
25
IOW
30
GTW
18
KEN
26
ELD POC
17
BRI
31
MCH
15
MSP
19
CHI
24
NHA
21
LVS
22
TAL
16
MAR
25
TEX
31
PHO
30
HOM
DNQ
23rd 176 [5]
2017 MDM Motorsports 99 Chevy DAY
32
91st 01 [34]
Martins Motorsports 44 Chevy ATL
23
MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR
42 TEX
32
PHO HOM
– Qualified but replaced by Austin Wayne Self.

ARCA Racing Series

[edit]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Racing Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ARSC Pts Ref
2010 Tommy Joe Martins Racing 95 Ford DAY
8
PBE SLM TEX TAL TOL POC MCH IOW MFD POC BLN NJE ISF CHI DSF TOL SLM KAN CAR 90th 190 [35]
2011 Martins Motorsports 42 Dodge DAY
14
TAL SLM TOL NJE CHI POC MCH WIN BLN IOW IRP POC ISF MAD DSF SLM KAN TOL 112th 160 [36]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
2 Martins started the 2017 season running for Truck Series points, but switched to the Xfinity Series starting at Richmond in April.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Petro, Camal. "Ole Miss student Tommy Joe Martins takes to the racetrack Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine". August 29, 2011. Oxford, MS: The Daily Mississippian. Accessed 2014-02-11.
  2. ^ Ryan, Nate (2018-04-10). "Ep. 132: Tommy Joe Martins from NASCAR on NBC podcast". www.stitcher.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  3. ^ "Nashville team plans to race in NASCAR's Nationwide Series". January 19, 2014. Nashville, TN: The Tennessean. Accessed 2014-02-11.
  4. ^ Knight, Chris (January 21, 2016). "Tommy Joe Martins Returns To NASCAR With New Team". Catchfence. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Tommy Joe Martins – 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  6. ^ "Austin Wayne Self Turns Second Chance into NCWTS Career Best Finish | Austin Wayne Self". Austin Wayne Self. 5 April 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Crandall, Kelly (2016-07-14). "Tommy Joe Martins providing unique perspective in blog". NASCAR Talk. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  8. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins is Speaking Up – And NASCAR Needs to Listen – Motor Racing Digest". Motor Racing Digest. 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  9. ^ Bearden, Aaron (2017-02-13). "Brandonbilt Motorsports, Martins Motorsports Combine For Select 2017 Races". Kickin' The Tires. Archived from the original on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  10. ^ Beard, Brock (2017-02-26). "TRUCKS: Tommy Joe Martins left with second-straight Daytona last-place finish". LASTCAR. Blogger. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  11. ^ Long, Dustin (April 14, 2017). "Tommy Joe Martins moving from Truck to Xfinity Series". NBC Sports. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  12. ^ "Jayski.com: Martins Motorsports Returns to NASCAR XFINITY Series". Jayski's Silly Season Site. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  13. ^ "Fantasy Sports Breaking News - Rotoworld.com". www.rotoworld.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  14. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins driving the #78 at Pocono". ESPN. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  15. ^ Beard, Brock (2017-11-05). "TRUCKS: Hard-luck Tommy Joe Martins' weekend a tale of two trucks". LASTCAR. Blogger. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  16. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins closes Truck team, to focus on Xfinity Series in 2018". NASCAR Talk. 2017-12-30. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  17. ^ Gregory, Allen (14 April 2018). "martins wants fans to know the whole story". Bristol Herald Courier. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  18. ^ "#PETM164 – Tommy's Got a Gun!". PETMpodcast.com. 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  19. ^ Nolen, Bryan (20 July 2019). "Tommy Joe Martins Leaving BJ McLeod Motorsports to Join MBM Motorsports". Frontstretch. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  20. ^ Page, Scott (July 24, 2019). "Tommy Joe Martins moving to MBM for remainder of 2019 UPDATE". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  21. ^ Brooks, Amanda (December 8, 2019). "Martins, MBM part ways". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  22. ^ "Martins Motorsports Returning To NASCAR Competition". Speed Sport. December 24, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  23. ^ Beard, Brock (October 29, 2020). "XFINITY: Timmy Hill sets up LASTCAR battle with Stephen Leicht; Brown, Vargas, Martins, and Currey enjoy career-best runs". LASTCAR.info. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  24. ^ Albino, Dustin (October 21, 2020). "Eyes on Xfinity: Tommy Joe Martins Focused on Building Martins Motorsports". Frontstretch. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  25. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  26. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  27. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  28. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  29. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  30. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  31. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  32. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  33. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  34. ^ "Tommy Joe Martins – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  35. ^ "Driver Tommy Joe Martins 2010 ARCA Racing Series results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  36. ^ "Driver Tommy Joe Martins 2011 ARCA Racing Series results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
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