Alpha Prime to begin with 2021 money bonus from Martins
AVONDALE, ARIZ. – The NASCAR Xfinity Series wrapped up its season last Saturday at Phoenix Raceway with Daniel Hemric finally breaking through to win his first race and the NXS championship.
Just as contentious as the championship battle was the battle for the top 20 in each points standings to earn bonus money.
Toward the end, as Tommy Joe Martins faced issues, he and Brett Moffitt’s points totals were close for 20th in the NXS driver standings.
“We’ve been a top 20 team all season but at the very end we ended up having a valve stem come loose causing a flat tire as the field took the green,” Martins said.
In a lucky break, a caution fell shortly after Martins pitting which allowed him to have one more chance at Moffitt.
“Brett, who is such a badass, was up in the top 10 and we were 28th,” Martins said, setting up the final restart, “then we gained four spots, finishing 24th in the race and beating him by two points.”
“This is the happiest I’m ever going to feel in my life to finish 24th,” Martins elaborated.
Martins’s 20th-place finish in NXS points matched his points finish in 2020 – Martins’ Motorsports’ first season.
“It’s just a payoff this crew and sponsors have put in all year to have a driver – which is me – finish in the top 20,” Martins said, “and it speaks to what we’ve built at Martins Motorsports as I close this chapter of my racing career.”
In 2022, Martins Motorsports will become Alpha Prime Racing – a joint effort between Martins and Caesar Bacarella featuring Rajah Caruth, Andy Lally and Ryan Ellis who will join Martins and Bacarella on the team’s driver lineup.
“I feel like our program is going to be in a really good place and we want to be a really good one-car team featuring some really talented drivers,” Martins said. “We want to put everyone in a good spot to succeed and we want to keep some continuity. We think we have some great chemistry and we want to build toward next year.
“I’m so excited to have Rajah a part of this, I’m so excited to have Andy be a part of this. Caesar calls me everyday,” Martins elaborated excitedly. “We’re ready to get next year started and we have renovations starting soon – no off season for us!”
Martins earned a career-best 10th-place finish at Texas in Oct. 2020 and a non-superspeedway, team-best 13th-place finish at the Daytona road course in Feb. 2021.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com