Tommy Joe Martins has offered a look at the financial realities facing smaller NASCAR teams, explaining why talented drivers can still struggle to earn opportunities despite their ability behind the wheel.

Appearing on The Teardown podcast, the Alpha Prime Racing co-owner revealed the inspiration behind his short film, Underfunded, stating that he created it to showcase the difficult decisions that underfunded race teams face every season. He also added why drivers continue to compete when they are in the back of the field, rather than aiming for a spot in top teams.  

“I think it's kind of hard to find that when you're racing for 20th every week. There's a lot of people that would just ask straight up, ‘Why are you even doing that?’, and I think it's a love of the sport.

"I think it's trying to get people to understand why some of the decisions are being made, and why we believe, in the case of a lot of drivers, that potentially there's really talented people that might never get a shot. And I think that came from a few different perspectives, and you see those kind of portrayed in the film.”

Continuing on the podcast, when asked about his experience of running an O’Reilly Series team, Martins did not sugarcoat the situation, detailing the issues smaller teams have to face while finalizing their budgets.

“But for us, we are a team that relies, like a small Xfinity (O'Reilly) Series team, on sponsorship. Like 40% or more of the budget is gonna come from sponsorship.

"So you're looking at, really, on our side, I mean, now the way we're operating is probably 60%, and I think there are teams; the further up the grid you're going, it's probably 80%. Because I think a budget for us is realistically like $2.5 to $3 million for a year. And I've heard that the teams at the front of our field are $6 million-plus.”

Martins feels that the sponsorship landscape has changed dramatically. Instead of supporting organizations over multiple seasons, companies increasingly back individual drivers, leaving teams with little negotiating power.

This reality is exactly what Underfunded aims to capture. While fans often see only the action on track, he believes the toughest battles for many NASCAR teams begin before the green flag drops, as organizations fight to secure enough funding to keep their cars on the grid.

And then there is JR Motorsports, which has an entirely different mindset. 

Kelley Earnhardt: “Junior Motorsports doesn't do this to make money” 

The 53-year-old CEO of JR Motorsports recently said on the Dale Jr Download podcast a few days ago that she was happy just to break even or have a modest profit percentage, after learning of Joe Gibbs Racing’s margins from Heather Gibbs’ testimony during the infamous antitrust lawsuit. 

She also acknowledged the position she enjoys along with her brother, Dale Jr., due to his racing success and the financial security provided by their other business ventures, which have allowed them to preserve the Earnhardt legacy. 

“You mentioned in your testimony during the lawsuit that you guys operate on about a 2% profit margin. After reading that, I realized I've never really looked at our profit margin because I'm just happy if it's in the black. It can be zero, it can be $10,000, or it can be $100,000, and I'm just glad that it's in the black. I looked at ours, and we're about one and a half percent, so I feel you.

"Junior Motorsports doesn't do this to make money. We started our team because of the legacy of our family and our passion for racing. From the very first days, if we were able to just stay on the line of slightly profitable or not losing too much, that was good enough for us.”

Read more at RFK Racing Digest! 

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason