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Tommy Joe Martins
Martins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019
Born	Thomas Joseph Martins (1986-12-07) December 7, 1986 (age 38) Como, Mississippi, U.S.
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
129 races run over 8 years
2022 position	46th
Best finish	20th (2020, 2021)
First race	2014 Blue Jeans Go Green 200 (Phoenix)
Last race	2024 United Rentals 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
28 races run over 4 years
2017 position	91st
Best finish	23rd (2016)
First race	2009 AAA Insurance 200 (IRP)
Last race	2017 JAG Metals 350 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish	90th (2010)
First race	2010 Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (Daytona)
Last race	2011 Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of October 26, 2024.

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

Racing career

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.

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. He had one truck and an old engine from Roush Racing. 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. However, the plans fell apart, and Martins did not race in 2015. In 2016, Martins purchased the owner points of Billy Boat Motorsports' No. 15 truck with plans to run the full 2016 Truck schedule.

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; 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. He also maintained a blog throughout the 2016 season chronicling his journey that gained notoriety within the NASCAR community. His largest blog post was about how the financial situation in NASCAR needed to change.

For 2017, Martins paired up with another family team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, to split the 2017 schedule in the 44 truck. 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. 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. 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. Martins stepped away from the Truck team to focus on Xfinity and later moved to B. J. McLeod Motorsports to run a partial Xfinity schedule.

After running Martins Motorsports in collaboration with AM Racing and Faith Motorsports in 2017, Martins closed his Truck team and announced another partial Xfinity schedule with McLeod in 2018. 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.

With Vinnie Miller joining B. J. McLeod Motorsports for 2019 full-time, Martins said he would likely run fewer races than he did in 2018 for the team. 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. He ran his first race for MBM at Watkins Glen International, driving the No. 66. On December 8, Martins announced he parted ways with MBM Motorsports. 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.

After several issues in the first half of the 2021 season, Martins claimed his first career Xfinity Series top-ten at Texas Motor Speedway in October. 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.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

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

ARCA Racing Series

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

References

1. ^ Petro, Camal. "Ole Miss student Tommy Joe Martins takes to the racetrack Archived February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". August 29, 2011. Oxford, MS: The Daily Mississippian. Accessed February 11, 2014.
2. Ryan, Nate (April 10, 2018). "Ep. 132: Tommy Joe Martins from NASCAR on NBC podcast". www.stitcher.com. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
3. "Nashville team plans to race in NASCAR's Nationwide Series". January 19, 2014. Nashville, TN: The Tennessean. Accessed February 11, 2014.
4. Knight, Chris (January 21, 2016). "Tommy Joe Martins Returns To NASCAR With New Team". Catchfence. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
5. ^ "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. April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
7. Crandall, Kelly (July 14, 2016). "Tommy Joe Martins providing unique perspective in blog". NASCAR Talk. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
8. "Tommy Joe Martins is Speaking Up – And NASCAR Needs to Listen – Motor Racing Digest". Motor Racing Digest. August 4, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
9. Bearden, Aaron (February 13, 2017). "Brandonbilt Motorsports, Martins Motorsports Combine For Select 2017 Races". Kickin' The Tires. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
10. Beard, Brock (February 26, 2017). "TRUCKS: Tommy Joe Martins left with second-straight Daytona last-place finish". LASTCAR. Blogger. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
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 May 9, 2018.
14. "Tommy Joe Martins driving the #78 at Pocono". ESPN. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
15. Beard, Brock (November 5, 2017). "TRUCKS: Hard-luck Tommy Joe Martins' weekend a tale of two trucks". LASTCAR. Blogger. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
16. "Tommy Joe Martins closes Truck team, to focus on Xfinity Series in 2018". NASCAR Talk. December 30, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
17. Gregory, Allen (April 14, 2018). "martins wants fans to know the whole story". Bristol Herald Courier. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
18. "#PETM164 – Tommy's Got a Gun!". PETMpodcast.com. September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
19. Nolen, Bryan (July 20, 2019). "Tommy Joe Martins Leaving BJ McLeod Motorsports to Join MBM Motorsports". Frontstretch. Retrieved July 21, 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 – 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
33. "Tommy Joe Martins – 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
34. "Tommy Joe Martins – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
35. "Tommy Joe Martins – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
36. "Tommy Joe Martins – 2010 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
37. "Tommy Joe Martins – 2011 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 28, 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Tommy Joe Martins driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1986 births
• Living people
• People from Como, Mississippi
• Racing drivers from Mississippi
• NASCAR drivers
• University of Mississippi alumni
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• American people of Portuguese descent