Alpha Prime Racing (formerly Martins Motorsports) is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Founded in 2009 by Craig Martins, the team is co-owned by Martins and Caesar Bacarella, and currently fields two full-time Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustang Dark Horses, including the No. 44 driven by Brennan Poole and the No. 45 driven by Lavar Scott, as well as the No. 4 part-time driven by Bacarella and Anthony Alfredo.
History
The team was founded in 2009 as Martins Motorsports for owner Tommy Joe Martins.
In 2017, following reports that longtime crew chief Kevin Eagle had left the team, primary driver and owner Tommy Joe Martins took to Twitter, Periscope and the media to announce the team's closure in late December 2017. The team had plans to compete in a full 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule; however, two drivers signed to drive on handshake deals failed to follow through, leaving the team's financial security in doubt. Tommy Joe, commenting on the situation, noted the irony of the situation that the team had been founded as an underdog, family team and now had to rely on pay drivers to survive, the antithesis of what the team was founded on. Once those drivers with sponsors backed out, Martins said that his family was unwilling to take the $300,000 or $400,000 loss that the team took in 2017. At different points, he called the decision "hard" to give up on a dream, yet "easy" to make financially. He also did not rule out a return to the Xfinity Series but the return did not seem likely at the time of closure. Martins later disclosed that the team had approached Ford Performance to become a partner team but that the manufacturer turned the team down.
The team was inactive from 2018 to 2019, and in 2022 the team rebranded as Alpha Prime Racing and has since expanded operations and driver lineup.
On September 5, 2026, it was announced that the team would switch manufacturers from Chevrolet to Ford beginning the following week at Gateway.
O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
Car No. 4 history
On December 18, 2024, it was announced that the No. 43 team would be renumbered to the No. 4, with newcomer Parker Retzlaff announced as the driver for 2025. On April 19, 2025 at Rockingham, Retzlaff scored the team's best finish with a third place finish, also tying his own best finish in an NXS race. However, just hours later, race winner Jesse Love was disqualified in post race inspection, bringing Retzlaff's finish to second place, now overtaking the 2024 season opener as the best finish in his Xfinity Series career.
On January 28, 2026, it was announced that Caesar Bacarella would compete in the season-opening United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, driving the No. 4 entry. Bacarella qualified 26th but gave up his seat to full-time driver Anthony Alfredo, who was not fast enough in qualifying to make the race on speed.
Car No. 4 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts 2025 Parker Retzlaff 4 Chevy DAY29 ATL27 COADNQ PHO11 LVS21 HOM17 MAR12 DAR20 BRI18 CAR2 TAL38 TEX14 CLT37 NSH37 MXC35 POC22 ATL36 CSC24 SON28 DOV19 IND14 IOW13 GLN22 DAY38 PIR30 GTW8 BRI16 KAN27 ROV16 LVS30 TAL7 MAR29 PHO27 22nd 479 2026 Caesar Bacarella DAYQL ATL COA PHO LVS DAR MAR ROC BRI KAN TAL TEX GLN DOV CLT NSS POC COR SON CHI ATL IND IOW DAY31 DAR GTW BRI LVS CLT PHO TAL MAR HOM —* —* Anthony Alfredo DAY11
Car No. 5 history On August 18, 2025, it was announced that the team would field a fourth car, which would be the No. 5 at the summer Daytona race, with Caesar Bacarella driving. The team obtained owner's points from the No. 5 from Our Motorsports. Stefan Parsons was due to join the team at Gateway Motorsports Park, but withdrew the entry prior to the race. The car was again entered into the Bristol race, but withdrew prior to qualifying when Parsons switched to Joey Gase Motorsports No. 35. During the final race at Phoenix, the team formed partnership with Joey Gase Motorsports again to field the No. 5 for Glen Reen.
Car No. 5 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts 2025 Caesar Bacarella 5 Chevy DAY ATL COA PHO LVS HOM MAR DAR BRI CAR TAL TEX CLT NSH MXC POC ATL CSC SON DOV IND IOW GLNDAY28 PIR TAL5 MAR 39th 227 Stefan ParsonsGTWWthBRIWth KAN ROV LVS Glen Reen Ford PHO34
Car No. 43 history
On September 15, 2022, Alpha Prime Racing announced that Ryan Ellis would return for an increased number of races in 2023 with specific partnership announcements coming at a later date. On December 20, the team announced it would be starting a third car with Ellis being the primary driver in 25 races with potentially more races being announced at a later date. He would complete 30 of the 33 races in the 43. Caesar Bacarella drove the car to a sixth place finish at Talladega. Leland Honeyman finished 28th at Portland, while Dylan Lupton finished 24th at Sonoma.
On August 4, 2023, APR announced that Ellis will run full-time in 2024.
Car No. 43 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts 2023 Ryan Ellis 43 Chevy DAY35 CAL34 LVS27 PHO19 ATL23 COA20 RCH15 MAR28 DOV25 DAR33 CLT27 NSH28 CSC31 ATL25 NHA19 POC18 ROA35 MCH23 IRC29 GLN30 DAY32 DAR29 KAN17 BRI18 TEX13 ROV36 HOM24 MAR24 PHO26 28th 393 Ford LVS27 Caesar Bacarella Chevy TAL6 Leland Honeyman PIR28 Dylan Lupton SON24 2024 Ryan Ellis DAY11 ATL25 LVS22 PHO21 COA33 RCH27 MAR26 TEX26 TAL26 DOV13 DAR38 CLT27 PIR17 SON26 IOW14 NHA35 NSH23 CSC21 POC36 IND23 MCH14 DAY37 DAR21 ATL21 GLN15 BRI24 KAN19 TAL15 ROV31 LVS28 HOM25 MAR18 PHO25 28th 441
Car No. 44 history
On December 24, 2019, two years after shutting down its operations, Martins Motorsports announced its return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2020, with longtime sponsor and family friend Rodney Riessen joining Craig Martins as the team's co-owners. The team will field the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro SS for Tommy Joe Martins. The team bought chassis from GMS Racing and JGL Racing to help bolster its inventory, which already included a road course car Martins ran for MBM Motorsports in 2019. The team failed to qualify for the season-opening race at Daytona, and had to temporarily lay off all of its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Midway through the season, the team hired Buddy Sisco as crew chief and results turned around. On October 24, Martins recorded both his and the team's first top-10 finish at Texas Motor Speedway with a 10th-place finish; Martins had confirmed a 2021 return earlier that month.
On August 30, 2021, the team announced it had formed a partnership with Caesar Bacarella, renaming the team to Alpha Prime Racing (after Bacarella's fitness brand) beginning with the 2022 season. Martins, Bacarella and Rajah Caruth are signed to drive for the team in 2022. On November 22, 2021, Bacarella was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for a violation of the sanctioning bodies substance abuse policy. A team statement issued by Tommy Joe Martins (in his capacity as General Manager) said that Bacarella had taken a workout supplement that he was unaware was on the banned substance list and that Bacarella is expected to be reinstated in time for the first race of 2022. On February 14, 2022, Bacarella was reinstated by NASCAR; Martins would drive the car in the opening race at Daytona, with Bacarella instead driving the No. 45.
On December 13, 2022, Alpha Prime Racing said in a press release that Jeffrey Earnhardt will be competing full time for the team in 2023. One of Earnhardt's long-time sponsors, ForeverLawn, will serve as the primary sponsor for the entry for multiple events. However, in the race at COTA, Earnhardt was swapped out in favor of Sage Karam, who only completed 23 laps before engine issues kept him from finishing the race. Earnhardt continued to race the #44 until Darlington in May, when he was swapped to the No. 45 permanently. Several drivers then drove the No. 44 car, including Karam, Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye, and Greg Van Alst. The car failed to qualify for 6 races in the season. At Martinsville in October, Caruth drove the No. 44 Chevrolet to a twelfth-place finish, the best finish of the season for the team.
On November 9, 2023, Alpha Prime Racing announced that Brennan Poole would drive for the team full-time in 2024 with primary sponsorship from Finance Pro Plus (twenty races) and Macc Door Systems (ten races).
On March 29, 2025, Poole got Alpha Prime their first ever top-five finish on a non-superspeedway with a fourth place finish at Martinsville, while also running in the top-ten for the last twenty laps. Three weeks later at Rockingham, Poole once again got APR a top-five on a non-superspeedway with a fifth-place finish (fourth after a post-race inspection disqualification). Parker Retzlaff also finished third (second after the disqualification), giving APR their first ever double top-five.
On November 18, 2025, Alpha Prime Racing announced that Poole would be returning for the 2026 season.
Car No. 44 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts 2020 Tommy Joe Martins 44 Chevy DAYDNQ LVS32 CAL18 PHO28 DAR26 CLT24 BRI23 ATL22 HOM31 HOM20 TAL15 POC30 IND35 KEN33 KEN27 TEX15 KAN18 ROA18 DAY13 DOV21 DOV15 DAY14 DAR26 RCH15 RCH26 BRI24 LVS22 TAL15 CLT27 KAN14 TEX10 MAR16 PHO34 22nd 481 2021 DAY24 DAY24 HOM18 LVS15 PHO17 ATL18 MAR34 TAL11 DAR15 DOV20 COA35 CLT29 MOH39 TEX21 NSH20 POC20 ROA15 ATL16 NHA21 GLN19 IND21 MCH19 DAY18 DAR37 RCH37 BRI23 LVS14 TAL18 CLT33 TEX18 KAN23 MAR40 PHO24 22nd 497 2022 DAY24 CAL31 TEX14 25th 461 Ryan Ellis LVS13 PHO16 TAL32 TEX30 CLT13 NSH24 IND36 MCH27 DAR22 BRI19 Sage Karam ATL32 COA16 ATL38 DAY5 Rajah Caruth RCH24 DOV38 POC38 LVS20 MAR 12 PHO17 Howie DiSavino III MAR36 NHA17 KAN28 TAL32 Josh Bilicki DAR28 ROA13 CLT 34 Andy Lally PIR17 Stefan Parsons GLN12 Julia Landauer HOM28 2023 Jeffrey Earnhardt DAY28 CAL26 LVS29 PHO33 ATL34 RCH18 MAR20 TAL31 DOV37 HOM18 35th 273 Sage Karam COA35 DAR31 SON34NSHDNQ CSC22 POC38 Rajah Caruth CLT25 NHA37 BRI17 ROV19 MAR12 Dylan Lupton PIR29 Greg Van Alst ATL38 Brad Perez ROA19 Mason Massey MCHDNQ Conor Daly IRCDNQ Stefan Parsons GLN33 Caesar Bacarella DAY31 Dawson Cram DARDNQ Leland Honeyman KANDNQ PHODNQ Daniel Dye TEX17 LVS21 2024 Brennan Poole DAY19 ATL20 LVS19 PHO20 COA15 RCH28 MAR14 TEX21 TAL5 DOV22 DAR20 CLT31 PIR16 SON14 IOW28 NHA16 NSH21 CSC20 POC26 IND21 MCH33 DAY16 DAR20 ATL15 GLN23 BRI17 KAN18 TAL9 ROV38 LVS21 HOM18 MAR13 PHO24 16th 572 2025 DAY30 ATL17 COA20 PHO17 LVS22 HOM14 MAR4 DAR20 BRI36 CAR4 TAL19 TEX17 CLT22 NSH16 MXC38 POC16 ATL17 CSC10 SON22 DOV27 IND20 IOW20 GLN12 DAY9 PIR13 GTW14 BRI10 KAN28 ROV31 LVS25 TAL19 MAR36 PHO18 20th 608 2026 DAY ATL COA PHO LVS DAR MAR ROC BRI KAN TAL TEX GLN DOV CLT NSH POC COR SON CHI ATL IND IOW DAY DAR BRICLT —* —* Ford GTW LVS PHO TAL MAR HOM
Car No. 45 history
On April 14, 2017, the team announced a nine-race Xfinity slate for 2017 with Tommy Joe Martins, car No. 45 and sponsor Diamond Gusset Jeans, starting with the spring race at Richmond and focusing primarily on short to intermediate tracks with the exception of the Indianapolis race. After failing to qualify and withdrawing from the first two planned events, the No. 45's schedule was folded into a ride with B. J. McLeod Motorsports, which culminated with a career-best 11th-place finish at Iowa for the driver.
On January 5, 2021, Alpha Prime Racing announced the number for their second full-time entry to be 45 and on January 6 announced Sage Karam to be one of the drivers.