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Alpha Prime Racing
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 entries, including the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Brennan Poole and the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Lavar Scott, as well as the No. 4 part-time driven by Caesar Bacarella. 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 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 got 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.
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.
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.
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.
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Alpha Prime Racing
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 entries, including the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Brennan Poole and the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Lavar Scott, as well as the No. 4 part-time driven by Caesar Bacarella. 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 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 got 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.
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.
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.
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.
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