Mark Martin: More Than Just a Runner-Up in Everybody's Book

Mark Martin is going to go down in the history of NASCAR as the sport’s Ted Williams, Karl Malone and Dan Marino … the best of the sport to never experience the glory of a championship title. But, despite the fact that it’s this blog post’s lede and will undoubtedly and unfortunately be synonymous with him for the remainder of his life and long after it ultimately doesn’t matter, because he (and the others like him) will still remain legends and all-time greats despite never reaching their sport’s summit.

Martin always seemed to be the runner-up in NASCAR – finished second in the point standings a record (and whopping) five times. He also never seemed to be the best driver at any one point in his long and successful career – but, only because he was being bested by truly iconic names like Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. But, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t get the job done (NASCAR is a team sport, just like baseball, basketball and football) and sometimes your failed by other things like your pit crew or just dumb luck. Martin, in fact, had not one, but two championships essentially taken from him by rules infractions seemingly out of his reach.

Championships should never be a measure of a true sports legend, period. Mark Martin may not have a championship, but won 40 premier series Sprint Cup races in his career and almost 100 races when you add up his victories from the three NASCAR series (he’s second in all-time Nationwide Series wins and the only driver in the history of NASCAR with 40-plus wins in both series). Bill Rexford won a NASCAR premier series championship, in 1950, but only won one race in his career. No offense to the late Rexford, and granted he only ran 36 career NASCAR races, but you tell me which driver is the true legend of the sport. Hint: It’s not the one with the championship.

Mark Martin is not just a true NASCAR legend and an all-time great because of his skills on the racetrack. He’s also a legend, because of the man he is. I’ve been watching NASCAR for 12 years and in that time there has never been a more respected man within the NASCAR garage and among race fans than Mark Martin. Few, if any, drivers in NASCAR history have probably been as respected and liked as Martin. This is because Martin was the ultimate gentleman racer who didn’t ruffle feathers on the track by beating and banging or off the track by running his mouth about fellow drivers. Drivers knew that Martin was going to race them clean, so they had better return the favor … and they always seemed to do just that. I can’t remember a single time in my 12 years of watching this sport where I ever saw Martin and another driver have a spat either on or off the track. Everybody simply liked Mark Martin.

It’s this respect and attitude that Martin showed that stands out the most to me about his career, even more so than winning races, despite having seen almost a quarter of Martin’s career wins in the Cup Series, including one of his most successful seasons in 2009 when he won five races, including the last of his career at New Hampshire Speedway, and finished runner-up in the championship for the fifth time in his career. Mark Martin was 50 years old that season and was better than anybody on the track, including drivers half his age.

Mark Martin is going to be missed on the racetrack for many reasons, some of them including the fact that he won’t be there to show the younger drivers the right way to race and treat each other and that he’s maybe the last throwback to the good old days of racing when the sport featured workingman-like legends like Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarbrough, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and on and on.

Mark Martin is truly a beloved relic of the sport of NASCAR. His career spans more than 30 years and multiple eras of the sport. He’s a guy who entered his first race in an event won by the legendary Richard Petty and finished his career in a race culminating in a championship for Jimmie Johnson. If there was a legend in the sport of NASCAR the odds are that Mark Martin not only drove side-by-side with them, but also beat them.

It’s going to be weird watching NASCAR without Mark Martin in the field, but it was a damn pleasure doing so for all of those years.