By Joseph Wolkin

Tommy Joe Martins is known as the voice of the little guys in the NASCAR garage. This year, he’s taking on a new challenge of starting a Truck Series team. Fortunately, it’s slowly working for him.

What’s it like to split time between finding funding and running a team?

“Well, it looks like I’m going to have the opportunity to move to North Carolina and be much more hands-on with the team and take on more of a manager role. Everything I’ve done has been from far away. My dad has been really involved with that and he’s always been really involved with the team.”

How important is it to get your voice out via Twitter?

“It’s been important to be me. I don’t think I’d have any of the opportunities I’ve had if I weren’t so vocal. I think I’m bringing up things that need to be talked about, and for some reason, they were taboo for a while. One of those things is money, and that’s 100 percent of racing.”