August 8, 1998, was an emotional day for Mark Martin and his family. His father, Julian Martin, died in a plane crash near Great Basin National Park in White Pine County, Nevada. After the funeral, Martin got back to preparing for the race weekend at Michigan with hopes of scripting a memorable win to honor his father. But Jeff Gordon and his late charge spoiled the emotional celebration Martin had planned, and it still hurts him to this day.

“I never cried, and you know all the emotions that everything that has built up. I knew I was going to have to do it, and it all came crashing down in the interview. I tried to be a manly man, but I actually cried in the interview. It hurts so bad. I wanted to win that race and dedicated that win to Sarah and Shelly,” Martin opened up on Kenny Conversation.

The Pepsi 400 at Michigan Speedway was under Mark Martin’s control. But a late caution on Lap 179 of 200 completely flipped the script. Martin’s No. 6 car had carved out a 20-second gap over Gordon for most of the race, but the caution allowed the HMS star to get back into contention. All the cars on the lead lap opted for fresh tires. Martin held his lead coming out of the pits, but Gordon found an extra gear when the race went green.

Gordon’s No. 24 car started to close in on the No. 6 car, and they even made contact twice. Martin tried to fend off the charge, but the HMS driver pulled away with eight laps to go, and he didn’t look back. After crossing the start-finish line, Gordon became only the seventh driver in the modern era to win four consecutive races in NASCAR. Meanwhile, Martin was left heartbroken. He was so close to a memorable win but had to settle for fourth after the late-race drama. But there’s another aspect to this Michigan race that most fans don’t remember.

Before getting on the racetrack at Michigan, Martin received a phone call from the president of the United States, Bill Clinton. “I’m headed to the racetrack from the airport and I get a phone call. It’s the president of the United States. My dad and Bill Clinton had a relationship when Bill was governor of Arkansas and my dad supported Bill. So Bill Clinton called me, it was pretty crazy.” Yet, Martin knew his job wasn’t done at Michigan and started preparing for the Bristol race.

Heading into the Bristol night race, Gordon was on the cusp of another record win: five straight victories in the modern era. But this time around, Mark Martin would have his moment. Martin was emotional after bagging his fifth win of the season.

“This helps me because I was so devastated. My relationship with my dad goes way beyond father and son. My dad was fun. I will miss having fun with him.”

Mark Martin finally had his redemption, and it was also an important win with regard to the championship battle. Gordon had opened up a 97-point gap over Martin, but the win at Bristol trimmed it down to 67. Some 145,000 people, the largest crowd in Tennessee’s sports history at the time, wanted to see Gordon win the race, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The veteran racer has penned personal and professional career stories in his book, “Never Lift.” It’s a hefty 544 pages with a detailed account of unfiltered incidents involving team owners, sponsors, and the sanctioning body.

“The stories are fun to tell because the older we get, the more it sounds like the Wild West, racing in the ’70s,” Martin says. “You can’t believe the stories, because you couldn’t do it like that, or act like that now. This world was so different, and so there’s just a lot of interesting stuff. But it was not so much a reflection; it’s just being able to get it all out there.”

If you want to dive into more detailed stories about Mark Martin and his journey, make sure to check out his autobiography, which is available on Amazon.