NASCAR Tommy Joe Martins

NASCAR Tommy Joe Martins

About Tommy Joe Martins

I signed a driver development deal with Nashville based Baker Curb Racing in late 2008. Unfortunately, because of a lack of sponsorship, the deal fell through.

Thankfully, my family was able to pick up the slack and keep me racing late models locally at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, and eventually in the ASA Challenge Series in 2009. We came so close to race wins at Salem, Nashville & Memphis, but still managed to record a couple top fives and a pole with very limited experience.

I started my NASCAR career in 2009. We ran 4 races with our own truck, running in the top 25 and gaining experience along the way. In 2010 I discovered my love for super speedway racing when we ran the ARCA race at Daytona and finished 8th. We’d always been such an underfunded team, and to take an effort that spent 1/10th of the money of some of the larger teams and still post a top 10 finish really was a proud moment. We went back in 2011 and finished 14th.

Then, because of a lack of funding, I had to hang up my helmet again. I went back to Ole Miss and finished my degree, then started to work in the journalism field before Martins Motorsports return to NASCAR in 2014.

We ran nearly half the year in the NASCAR Nationwide series and had a season best 14th place finish at Talladega. There were more downs than ups –  we had to start and park a lot of the races because of lack of sponsorship, but it was still a tremendous experience both behind the wheel & as part of a business.

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