Huge upset for TJ Martin and United Emirates Racing at Talladega!

What a historic day in racing at Talladega! This was the first time in history a Hardee's National Series driver has swept the weekend and won the Cup Series race on the same weekend! This was TJ Martin's 3rd career start in the Sony Cup Series and coming off a win for Turner Performance Racing in the National Series, Martin strapped in his United Emirates Racing Ford ready to do battle with the Cup veterans. United Emirates Racing which is basically SUMS Racing from the last few years made some moves in the off season to make some technical alliances with some of the top Cup teams in the business to find speed.


Turner Performance Racing was helping supply United Emirates Racing at Talladega with the same race car that led the most laps in the DAYTONA 500 with TJ's dad of Luke Martin behind the wheel.


During the 150 mile event at Talladega, TJ Martin and United Emirates Racing found themselves in the thick of things for the lead throughout the event but a great pit stop to keep them in the lead pack was the winning move to put Martin in a position to win. TJ Martin hooked up with his dad of Luke Martin near the end to help benefit his chances of winning. 


The race had came down to the final 2 laps and Luke Martin was out front. Luke Martin had led 21 of the race's 57 laps. Luke Martin had led the most laps and was unstoppable until his son of TJ Martin made an unthinkable move to duck out on his father to make the race winning pass in Turn 3 coming to the white flag. TJ Martin held on with affiliate teammate of Jesse Turner right behind him to win the round of Talladega!


Luke Martin was looking unstoppable and the only driver that was able to overthrow him for the win... was his son of TJ Martin! The race winning pass was almost like a hand off to the next generation with that pass for the win! The only driver out there that was capable of beating him was the younger version of him. This could be the turning point in the series as Luke Martin hands off the torch for the Martin name as TJ keeps the family name in the winner circle. A very elated father visited his son in victory lane after such a sweet yet unbelievable accomplishment!


This was a big race weekend for the Sony Cup Series as this was the 100th different winner in the series, United Emirates Racing earned their first career victory, TJ Martin wins his first career Cup Series win and this was the first time in history a Hardee's National Series driver has swept the race weekend!

One for the ages. Honored to give UER the technical support they needed to be strong and run well. Plus TJ just drove a great race, period.