40 Cup Series wins. 49 Xfinity Series victories. NASCAR Hall of Fame. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. A 31-year career. That’s Mark Martin’s legacy for you. While that’s paramount, there is still a little nook in him that hurts. And it’s the Daytona 500, the Great American Race.

Mark Martin and his Daytona woes

Mark Martin sat down with his son, Matt Martin, and Charlie Marlow on the Mark Martin Archive podcast, released on February 10, where he explained why Daytona represents a painful chapter for him, even as others call it the center of speed.

“Certainly for me it was a world center of pain,” Martin said in the podcast. “And so yeah, I use that term, you know, for the second half of my career at least, if not more, that place dealt me a lot of pain.”

Following this, the former NASCAR driver, who has never won at Daytona in the Cup Series, explained why he never liked racing at the Daytona International Speedway:

“So I raced there in 82, in ’83, and then I came back in ’88 and in ’88 and ‘ 89, 90. It was still, even though the restrictor plates came in in 88, it would get slick enough on Sundays that it would be what I would call a real race where you couldn’t hold it wide open all the time. And you know that makes a huge difference in how the race goes. And once it became pack racing, then it was a demolition derby.”

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Martin’s frustration dealt with how the racing itself evolved at Daytona, and it certainly wasn’t in a way he appreciated. When the 67-year-old first raced at Daytona in the early 1980s and returned in 1988, the racing was different. Despite the introduction of restrictor plates in 1988 to slow the cars down, the track would still get slick enough on race day that drivers couldn’t simply hold the throttle wide open the entire time.

Then, as the 1990s progressed, everything changed. The cars became more equal, the packs tightened, and Daytona transformed into what Martin called pack racing.

Turning the page back to 2007, we can see why Mark Martin carries the heartbreak he does when it comes to the Daytona 500. In one of the wildest finishes, Kevin Harvick passed the checkered flag just 0.02 seconds ahead of Martin. As they were about to cross the finish line, chaos erupted. Clint Bowyer slid upside-down across the finish line. Martin was leading at the white flag with Harvick running fifth.

Out of the 29 Daytona 500 starts, this happened to be Martin’s best finish.

Besides Mark Martin’s justification, seasoned drivers have multiple reasons behind disliking the Daytona race due to its unpredictable nature of racing.

The drivers need to rely on luck rather than skill, as they feel the aerodynamic package of the Next Gen cars makes it difficult to pass and control the cars. As a result, they often fall prey to the wrecks.

Moreover, drivers need to watch out for the big wrecks, also known as “The Big One,” where a single mistake can collect 10-15 cars at once. Joey Logano, the three-time Cup Series champion, termed this as “injustice” as he felt at times the innocent drivers fall prey to the wrecks, while the drivers who started it often continue the race.

With that said, one should not be surprised that Daytona was a painful chapter in Mark Martin’s racing career. So much so that the veteran NASCAR figure put the Southern 500 at Darlington over the Daytona 500 at Daytona.

Mark Martin and Co. puts Southern 500 over the Daytona 500

Mark Martin and his son, Matt Martin, are of the opinion that the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway outweighs the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Comparing the two races, Martin Jr. said:

“I’ve never understood the hype for that race. I don’t know why people don’t view the Southern 500 the way they do the Daytona 500, because to me, it’s the oldest. Darlington is the oldest track. It’s much harder to win a race there and drive on than Daytona is.”

Mark Martin agreed with his son, as he followed up with, “I mean, you make all great points, and I don’t disagree with any of it.”

Notably, the Darlington Raceway is indeed considered a tougher racetrack than its counterpart from Daytona. This race takes place at this track in North Carolina, and this year it’s scheduled for September 6.

Known as ‘Too Tough To Tame’ on social media, the track has an extremely abrasive surface, which causes serious tire wear. Besides this, the track is ‘egg-shaped’ where the drivers need to brush the wall to maintain high speed.

As a result, they need to race at high speed with intense focus, along with managing the tires, making it one of the hardest tracks to race on. Despite its toughness, the race or the racetrack failed to attract the glamor that the Daytona 500 has.