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Tommy Joe Martins Is In A Grassroots Fight For Survival In Nascar

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This article is more than 3 years old.

Tommy Joe Martins is getting plenty of practice as a salesman. He doesn’t stop trying to grow his family-owned Nascar Xfinity Series team, all while working at a driving school in Nevada.

Life as a driver-owner is not an easy one for Martins, but he loves it. The daily grind of proving himself is one that can be traced back to the sport’s early years, when drivers fielded their own entries and sold their own sponsorship. One day, Martins hopes this team becomes the Xfinity Series’ version of Wood Brothers Racing, helping to develop young talent as part of a bigger purpose.

“I’m 34, and team ownership has always been something that interests me,” Martins said. “I’ve always spoken a lot about the finances of the sport and making it work. I’d like to be a team owner when my time in the seat is done.”

Martins is set to return to full-time Xfinity Series competition for the second straight season in his No. 44 Chevrolet. In 2020, he finished 20th in the driver’s points, a solid first full season outing for a family-run team.

But Martins and his father, Craig Martins, did not get here easily. Martins Motorsports has started and shut down multiple times, failing before it even had a chance to grow.

Finally, though, the driver found enough sponsorship to run a full Xfinity Series season in 2020. Instead of compete near the back of the pack on a part-time basis for an existing team, he wanted to do things his own way. If not now, then when?

“This is something we tried multiple times and failed at it,” he said. “I had driven for BJ McLeod’s team and Carl Long’s team, but I felt like my opportunities were dwindling. With all of the sponsorships we had, it was a situation where I knew the best opportunity I could create would be with my own team.”

So his father and Rodney Riessen made an investment to help put together the No. 44 Xfinity Series team. The first few months were not easy, and the coronavirus pandemic certainly did not help the situation.

Martins had an issue during qualifying at the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, missing the first race of the year. But he qualified for all 32 races after that, with a best finish of 10th at Texas Motor Speedway in late October.

Fortunately, Martins’ sponsors believe in him and understand that his outspoken personality, especially on social media, can help elevate this program.

“We’ve put together a top 15, top 20 team,” he said. “We’re pretty proud of that.”

Putting The Team Together

Roughly 20% of Martins Motorsports’ budget—$330,000—goes straight to fresh tires on a weekly basis, totaling roughly $10,000 for five sets of Goodyear GT tires per race. To put that into perspective, a top Xfinity Series effort will cost about $6 million to $8 million per year for the best equipment, not including at-track activation costs spent by sponsors.

And Martins believes the team’s budget can expand in the future. With some solid results in 2020 and modest expectations for 2021, he believes they are laying the groundwork for what can be a major Xfinity Series program in the future. The more money that’s invested in Martins Motorsports, the better engines he can purchase. Top engines in the Xfinity Series will cost approximately $25,000 per race, Martins said.

“We need to get enough money to do a lease engine program,” he said. “Right now, we own our engines. That could put us in the top-12 conversation.”

In order to help grow the program, one of his sponsors had a program this year to feature associate partners on the No. 44 car. Associated Adjusters Network (AAN) had a program designed to have $10,000 partnerships with Martins to have a company's logo alongside of AAN. The goal is clear in search of a strong return-on-investment while helping Martins approach the top of the scoring pylon.

“I felt like we could have a more competitive situation,” Martins said. “There would be only one person to blame, and that would be me.”

The race-by-race payout, Martins explained, helps make Xfinity Series program he’s built more affordable for entry-level partners. If the team expands at some point, the asking price to be on the car could increase.

At some point, that will probably happen. But Martins isn’t in a rush to give up his spot in the driver’s seat. With the people surrounding him, he feels he can give it his all for at least another full season, if not more. With a cost-effective business model, this team believes it can overcome some hurdles should the right investment come through.

“The engine program is the big step,” Martins said. “A lot of the bigger teams that were in the series scaled back, so a lot of the equipment has trickled down to us.”

As part of the building process, this small team hired veterans Buddy Sisco and Frank Kerr to lead the way. The investment in the two, on top of other members of the team, is not a small one. However, it led to a year of steady improvements heading into 2021.

Sisco was Michael Waltrip's crew chief in 2007, the first year of Michael Waltrip Racing. He also won a pair of Camping World Truck Series races with Chase Briscoe and Spencer Boyd. Kerr served as a Cup Series crew chief for Marcos Ambrose, along with several other drivers, for about a decade. He also led DGR-Crosley Racing's No. 54 team in 2019.

“If you don’t have great people, you’re not going to achieve anything,” he said. “It’s better to overdo it with people than overstress with everything else.”

Going forward, Martins is happy making a living during the week as a driving coach. He’s fulfilling his dream of racing in Nascar on a weekly basis, and he’s doing it with his family.

The earnings he makes at the races go back to the team, as does the sponsorship money from the No. 44 squad.

“I want to be in Nascar full-time and dedicate my time to that,” Martins said.

In the meantime, he’ll continue to be the ultimate salesman. If Martins Motorsports can grow to become the Xfinity Series’ version of the Wood Brothers like he wants, it’ll be mission accomplished.

“Eventually, I’m going to take over day-to-day operations of the team,” he said. “I’ve reached a point in my career now that I did the think I was chasing after for so long.”

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