Mark Martin has often been called Mr. Consistency due to his frequent top-ten finishes. Hailing from the state of Arkansas, he spent his early years driving on short dirt tracks. From there he moved to the AMA and won the Rookie of the Year title in 1977. He then won three consecutive championships from 1978 to 1980 and then another in 1986.

But Mark Martin was made for bigger and better things and headed for NASCAR racing in 1981. By 1982 he was running a full schedule with a family owned team. After running only 22 events from ‘83 to ‘87, he took on a full schedule in the Nationwide (then Busch) Series for owner Bruce Lawmaster. Martin won at Dover, becoming the first Ford driver to win there. That win caught the eye of another owner who was setting up his Cup team for 1988-Jack Roush. That was the start of a 19-year relationship between the two of them. During this time he’s been runner-up to the championship four times but hasn’t been able to grasp it.

In 1990 he lost the title to Dale Earnhardt by only 26 points and in 2002 by just 38 points to Tony Stewart. Martin parted ways with Roush racing after the organization announced that they could no longer field a team for him in 2007 for all 20 races that he wanted to run. After the ‘06 campaign, Martin joined Ginn Racing to run a part time schedule in 2007. Martin is the leader for wins in the Nationwide Series with 47 even though he doesn’t run a full schedule. He also made 14 starts in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2006. That single year brought an astonishing record of 6 wins, 11 top-5s, 12 top-10s, and 3 pole positions.

Author: Cindy Pischel