Tommy Joe Martins will make his return to the NASCAR XFINITY Series next weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway where he will attempt to make his 12th start in the series. His team, Martins Motorsports, moves from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to make nine starts in the NXS. The team will no longer field a truck in the NCWTS with the exception of Eldora with J.R. Heffner.
Bristol will be the first of the nine races with the other Bristol race, both Dover and Richmond races, Chicagoland, Kansas and Indianapolis filling out the lineup. Kevin Eagle returns to the pit box for Martins effort in the NXS while long-time partner Diamond Gusset Jeans jumping on board. Martins will drive the No. 45 Chevrolet
“The timing was right,” team owner Craig Martins said. “We had a tremendous opportunity to make this move, and we took it. A return to Xfinity was a long-term goal for us – it just worked out a lot quicker than we expected.”
It will be the first time that Martins will attempt to qualify for a NXS race since Indianapolis in 2014. That season, Martins also DNQ’ed three other times while also withdrawing two times.
“I’ve said a lot about our struggles in 2014. It left a really bad taste in our mouths,” Tommy Joe said. “But I’m looking forward to this. I’ve wanted another chance for a long time. I loved the truck series, but I’m excited to be an Xfinity Series driver again. Having Diamond Gusset back on the car just makes it even more special.”
In 11 starts in the NXS, Martins has a best finish of 14th at the Talladega Superspeedway in 2014. In 27 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series he has gained a best finish of 17th at Talladega last season. Martins also has one other start at the Bristol Motor Speedway where he finished 31st after experiencing power steering issues.
