Mark Martin was born in Batesville, Arkansas. He began his racing career on local dirt tracks before transitioning to asphalt competition and entering the ASA racing series. In the ASA, he competed against drivers such as Dick Trickle, Jim Sauter, Joe Shear, and Bobby Allison. Martin earned the ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year Award in 1977 and went on to win 22 ASA races and four series championships, secured in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1986.
Martin experienced an unsettled start to his NASCAR career, competing for six different teams between 1981 and 1987. He made five starts in 1981 with a team owned by Bud Reeder, earning pole positions at Nashville and Richmond and recording a third-place finish at Martinsville. In 1982, he raced full-time with the Bud Reeder team, supported by sponsorship from Apache Stove, but the team went bankrupt mid-season and Martin did not receive payment. He recorded eight top-ten finishes but also twelve DNFs in thirty starts, finishing 14th in the final standings and second in the Rookie of the Year competition behind Geoff Bodine.
In 1988, Martin joined the newly formed Roush Racing, with crew chief Steve Hmiel, driving the No. 6 Ford Thunderbird. He recorded three top-five finishes and ten top-ten finishes, along with winning the pole at Dover. In 1989, Martin won his first Winston Cup race at Rockingham, beating Rusty Wallace by three seconds, marking the first win for Jack Roush as an owner. He finished third in the standings that year, leading the series with a 5.3 average starting position.
The 1990 season saw Martin as a championship favorite, but a 46-point penalty at Richmond for an illegal carburetor spacer cost him valuable ground. Despite winning three races, he lost to Dale Earnhardt by twenty-six points in the final standings. In 1993, Martin won four consecutive races at Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, and Darlington, along with a win at Phoenix, finishing third in the standings. He won five races in 1998, finishing second in the standings to Jeff Gordon.
In 2002, Martin won at the Coca-Cola 600 and was a championship contender, finishing second to Tony Stewart. In 2009, at the age of 50, he won four races and again finished second in the standings, this time to Jimmie Johnson. He won his 40th and final career victory in Cup competition at the 2009 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
During the 1994 Winston Select 500, Martin was involved in a spectacular crash when contact with other cars sent him through the infield grass, smashing into the wall, and coming to rest feet from a spectator area. At the 2007 Daytona 500, Martin finished second to Kevin Harvick in a controversial finish following a late-race crash. In the 2009 AMP Energy 500 at Talladega, Martin was involved in a frightening crash in the final laps, flipping over one and a half times.
Martin ranks second in all-time wins in the Xfinity Series (formerly the Busch Series) with 49. He also won six races in the Camping World Truck Series in 2006. He also competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series.
Martin was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2015 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017. He was also named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023. Martin owns five car dealerships in Arkansas and continues to follow NASCAR and pavement Late Model racing.
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