Martins, Bacarella ‘Prime’-d for debut of joint NXS effort
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – Tommy Joe Martins’ self-proclaimed hare-brained idea of Alpha Prime Racing is now a two-car team with each of its entries locked into the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona.
Martins and co-owner Caesar Bacarella qualified the No. 44 and No. 45 Chevrolets 22nd and 32nd, respectively for Saturday’s 120-lap Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner 300 at Daytona.
For Martins, it is his 4th NXS Daytona start. It’ll be the 9th NXS Daytona start for Bacarella, whose love for speedway racing was a contributing factor in making Alpha Prime Racing happen.
“He’s so committed to Speedway racing. This is what he loves, absolutely loves this type of racing,” Martins said. “I mean, I feel like he bought into this team and we did all of this just so he could go run Daytona. I mean, this is a big deal. We’ve gone through a lot.”
Alpha Prime Racing will be a two-car operation at Daytona – and this season – but there was interest from Josh Bilicki to field a third car for the race.
“He’s got a sponsor that he really wanted to run at Daytona,” Martins stated, “and we just were really committed to just be a two-car team; we didn’t want to expand and bring another car so he’s running Daytona right now with Mario Gosselin who we have a lot of respect for, obviously, so glad they could work that out.”
Bilicki qualified 31st for the NXS opener at Daytona. He will drive for Alpha Prime Racing in four of the six NXS road course races, beginning at Circuit of the Americas in March.
The Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series opener goes green at Daytona International Speedway around 5:30 p.m. ET (TV: FS1; Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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