A team that closed in 2017 over a lost sponsor deal, came back as Martins Motorsports in 2020 and now races Brennan Poole and Parker Retzlaff with top-five results.
Alpha Prime Racing is an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series team that began as Martins Motorsports in 2009. It closed in 2017, returned in 2020 and was renamed in 2022, and it switched from Chevrolet to Ford in 2026.
Alpha Prime Racing is an American stock car team that competes in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. The operation was founded in 2009 as Martins Motorsports, and it is co-owned by Craig Martins and Caesar Bacarella. It currently fields full-time entries in Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustang Dark Horses, with a part-time car alongside them.
How did the team start and why did it close in 2017?
Tommy Joe Martins launched the operation in 2009 as Martins Motorsports. Its plans for a full 2018 Truck Series schedule collapsed when two drivers signed on handshake deals failed to follow through, and the closure was announced in late December 2017.
Martins also noted the irony of the closure. The team had been founded as an underdog, family operation, and it had come to rely on pay drivers to survive, which he saw as the opposite of its founding idea.
Martins said the family was unwilling to absorb the $300,000 or $400,000 loss the team had taken in 2017. He called the decision hard to make as a dream, yet easy to make financially. The team had also approached Ford Performance to become a partner, and Ford declined.
A small family team that closed, returned and now races for top fives with a new brand of car from September 2026.
Why did the team come back in 2020?
The team was inactive from 2018 to 2019. On 24 December 2019 it announced a return to the Xfinity Series in 2020, two years after shutting down, with sponsor Rodney Riessen, a family friend, joining Craig Martins as co-owner.
The No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro SS was driven by Tommy Joe Martins that year. Missing the Daytona season opener was an early setback, and the pandemic forced the team to lay off its staff temporarily, but results turned around after Buddy Sisco was hired as crew chief. On 24 October 2020 Martins scored a 10th at Texas, the team's first top-ten finish. He had confirmed the 2021 return earlier that same month.
How did the team become Alpha Prime Racing?
On 30 August 2021 the team announced a partnership with Caesar Bacarella. From the 2022 season it became Alpha Prime Racing, a nod to Bacarella's fitness brand, and Martins, Bacarella and Caruth were set to drive for it that year.
The new name marked a second chapter in which the team expanded its operations and its driver line-up, with several drivers signed for the same season.
Who drove the No. 44 in its later years?
On 13 December 2022 the team announced that Jeffrey Earnhardt would race full-time in 2023, with ForeverLawn as primary sponsor for multiple events. Earnhardt moved to the No. 45 permanently at Darlington in May 2023, and several drivers, including Sage Karam, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye and Greg Van Alst, drove the No. 44 that year.
Caruth drove the No. 44 to a 12th-place finish at Martinsville in October 2023, the best result for the car that season. On 9 November 2023 the team announced that Brennan Poole would drive full-time in 2024, with Finance Pro Plus and Macc Door Systems as primary sponsors.
Poole gave the team its breakthrough on 29 March 2025, when he finished fourth at Martinsville. It was the team's first top-five finish on a track other than a superspeedway. Three weeks later at Rockingham, Poole finished fifth, which became fourth after a post-race disqualification. Parker Retzlaff finished third, which became second after the same disqualification. That gave Alpha Prime its first double top five.
What did the No. 43 and No. 4 achieve?
Ryan Ellis drove the No. 43 in 2023 for 30 of the 33 races, and Bacarella took the car to sixth at Talladega. On 4 August 2023 the team confirmed that Ellis would run full-time in 2024.
The No. 43 was renumbered to the No. 4 in December 2024, with newcomer Parker Retzlaff named as driver for 2025. At Rockingham in April 2025 he scored the team's best finish with a third-place run, which became second after Jesse Love was disqualified in post-race inspection. For the season-opening race at Daytona in 2026, Anthony Alfredo took the seat that Bacarella had given up.
How has the No. 45 changed over time?
The No. 45 began as a nine-race Xfinity slate in 2017 with sponsor Diamond Gusset Jeans, but the schedule was folded into a ride with B. J. McLeod Motorsports after the team failed to qualify and withdrew from its first two events. That ride produced a career-best 11th at Iowa for the driver.
On 5 January 2021 the team named the No. 45 as its second full-time entry, and Sage Karam was announced as a driver the next day. Karam returned for seventeen races in 2023, while Stefan Parsons joined for select races. The car scaled back to part-time in 2024 and picked up owner points from JD Motorsports on 16 July, after JD Motorsports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The No. 45 went full-time again in 2025, when it was shared by seven drivers, among them Caesar Bacarella, Brad Perez and Lavar Scott. On 8 December 2025 Scott was announced as the full-time driver for 2026.
What happened in the team's 2014 season?
In 2014 the team ran a secondary car, the No. 67, with Clay Greenfield at Daytona. Greenfield and Willie Allen both failed to qualify, which left the team 0 for 2 in that race. The car withdrew the following week after no driver could be found for it.
The team mostly started and parked its cars that year, running full races only at higher-paying events such as Talladega and Charlotte. The No. 76 was the team's main focus that year, but Willie Allen failed to qualify it at Daytona and Bristol. Tommy Joe Martins then took over the car, made eight races in it and failed to qualify for four, including the last three attempts of the season.
Where did the team race in the trucks and the ARCA series?
The team's first race came in 2009, when Tommy Joe Martins ran a four-race truck schedule. His best finish that year was 21st at Chicagoland. The No. 42 truck debuted in 2011 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and it finished 33rd at Lucas Oil Raceway in the same season.
The team took all of 2015 off after a failed Xfinity effort and returned in 2016 with Martins as full-time driver. On 13 February 2017 it announced a partnership with Brandonbilt Motorsports to run driver Brandon Brown in the truck for select races. In the ARCA Racing Series the team debuted in 2010 with the No. 95 Ford at Daytona, where Martins finished eighth. In 2011 the No. 42 Dodge finished 14th at Daytona.
Why does the 2026 manufacturer switch matter?
On 5 September 2026 the team announced that it would move from Chevrolet to Ford, starting the following week at Gateway. The team had been running Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustang Dark Horses side by side, and the change ends that mix of makes.
Ford had declined the team's partner approach in 2017, so the switch brings the team back to a manufacturer it once approached directly.
| Season | Car | Driver | Best result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | No. 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | 10th at Texas |
| 2023 | No. 43 | Caesar Bacarella | 6th at Talladega |
| 2023 | No. 44 | Rajah Caruth | 12th at Martinsville |
| 2025 | No. 44 | Brennan Poole | 4th at Martinsville |
| 2025 | No. 4 | Parker Retzlaff | 2nd at Rockingham after disqualification |
