Tommy Joe Martins and his Martins Motorsports team are leaving the Camping World Truck Series to compete in nine Xfinity races, the driver announced Friday.
Martins, who competed in the first two Truck races of the season, is set to return to the Xfinity Series for the April 22 race at Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 45 Chevrolet. Diamond Gusset Jeans will be the sponsor. The team plans to compete in two races at Bristol, Dover and Richmond, along with Xfinity races at Chicagoland, Kansas and Indianapolis. Kevin Eagle will be the crew chief. The only Truck series race the team plans to compete will be in July at Eldora Speedway with JR Heffner as the driver.
Martins has chronicled the struggles of racing for an underfunded team in a blog.
Martins has made 27 Camping World Truck starts. His best finish was 15th at Michigan in 2016. He competed in 11 Xfnity races in 2014 and had a best finish of 14th at Talladega.
Hey @NASCAR_XFINITY 👋🏻
— Alpha Prime Racing (@TeamAlphaPrime) April 14, 2017
We're baaaaaack!
Happy to announce our 2017 plans & the return of @DiamondGusset!
See you at @BMSupdates! pic.twitter.com/0TAVibLfIA