Dale Earnhardt Jr Endorses NASCAR Legend’s “Sick Crew” Which “Crushed the Competitor”

NASCAR has had many significant drivers in its illustrious past. There have been those that dominated for decades and decades, winning all that they competed for, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s father. But there have also been those who didn’t win a single Cup Series and yet fans categorize them among the greatest of all time.

The biggest name falling under the latter category was Mark Martin. The Arkansas man has an impressive record, but just that one feather missing in his cap. He raced for 31 years in the Cup Series, starting a whopping 882 races in that time span. But he could at best finish in second place 5 times; unable to find that edge.

During his time in NASCAR, he competed with some venerable names of the sport. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was one of his earliest rivals. Twice Martin finished second to Dale Sr in the Cup Series, in 1990 and in 1994. His other second-place finishes also came against some very respectable competition, like Jeff Gordon (1998), Tony Stewart (2002), and Jimmie Johnson (2009).

But all of Martin’s success wasn’t a product of only his efforts. He had a great crew behind him that helped him to glory with a record 5 IROC Championships, and (another record) 13 IROC race wins.

Martin posted a picture of one of his crews recently on Instagram. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr shared the picture as a story with the caption “pretty sick crew here” – a testament to the quality of the team that was behind Mark Martin’s virtuoso performances on the track.

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The names mentioned by Martin aren’t names some of the younger fans would be aware of, but they were trailblazers in their own right.

Things were bad between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mark Martin

Both retired drivers, and legends of the sport, are now good friends. Even Dale Sr. and Mark Martin shared a great relationship earlier. But there was a time when Junior and Martin had some issues.

In an accident that took place in Michigan in 2011, Dale Jr. was visibly responding angrily to a move by Martin. After the incident, Dale said, “The defining moment probably was getting ran into the wall by Mark. If the tables were turned, I’d have been smarter and given him plenty of room.”

An irate Junior added, “He’s older than me, been racing forever, he’s forgot more stuff than I’ll ever know. But still, I take better care of people (on the track) than that.”

However, later on, after Mark went and spoke to the Hendrick Motorsports driver, Dale calmed down. He said “I feel better. He got tight off the corner–I had the same thing happen to me (earlier in the race). I can’t tell when he’s pushing. I got up on his right-rear quarterpanel, and he got real, real tight up off the corner. He was out of the gas, wasn’t nothing he could do.”

“I was just pissed off at the end of the race–just mad,” he said. “Cause I want to finish where I’m supposed to finish, and that didn’t happen today, so I was real PO’d about it. But Mark come gave me a good explanation. I believe it, and that’s the end of it.”

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Dale Jr finished that race in 21st place, as a result of the accident. While tempers flared for a bit, the two found their way to sort it out, which was a very mature decision to make.