The year was 1990 and Mark Martin was starting to get some attention with Roush Racing. Following the Daytona 500 21st place finish, he clinched the second race of the season at Richmond Raceway. But, Dale Earnhardt’s team Richard Childress appealed to inspect Martin’s car over the finish and it all went downhill for Martin from here on.

The 64-year-old has everything to his name in the Cup Series except the championship. Starting 882 Cup Series races in 31 years, Martin has 40 wins to his name and was runner-up in the 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2009 seasons. However, the 1990 NASCAR campaign is one that would hurt the veteran even to this date. An appeal by Richard Childress in just the second race of the season at Richmond saw Martin’s team stripped of their victory plus a heavy 46-point deduction.

Mark Martin explains the scenes at Richmond Raceway finish line after his win

The post-race inspection determined that Martin raced with an illegal carburetor spacer. The irony here is that had the spacer been welded instead of being bolted on, it would have been legal. Martin claimed after the race was over, Richard Childress pointed out the issue with carburetor leading to the win being rendered null and void.

Martin shared some important insights into the incident speaking on NASCAR’s YouTube channel. “You could’ve run the carburetor if it was welded on. However, an old technicality in the rule book set a two-inch maximum carburetor space[…] After we won the race, they say that Richard Childress come you know dragging them over there and pointed and said ‘it’s right there.’ Bill France Jr didn’t happen to be there which is very rare. He wasn’t able to see it with his own eyes and be able to bring us to in the trailer and Jack be able to plead his case… but we weren’t able to have that conversation.

“They took a lap away from us, the money $40,000 and 46 points. And I figured that it is what it is. It won’t have an implication in the points championship and sure enough, I lost the championship by 26 points. So if that had been welded on instead of bolted on we would have won the championship by 20 points and got that one that got away from us.” Earnhardt with Richard Childress Racing would go onto lift his fourth Winston Cup later in the season, narrowly beating Martin.

Martin’s victory was allowed to stand, but he was docked 46 champion points and was forced to turn over more than two-thirds of his winnings with a hefty fine of $40,000. NASCAR Competition Director Dick Beaty said the victory would not count toward the lucrative Winner’s Circle championship.

The engine in Martin’s Ford was fitted with a 2 1-2 inch carburetor spacer, although NASCAR allows spacers of no more than two inches. NASCAR has long had a policy of leniency in fining winners who fail to pass post-race inspections. Though in 1983 Richard Petty won a race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway using illegal tires and an illegal engine and was fined $35,000, which was the largest previous fine before Martin and his team were fined.

Mark Martin Is the Greatest Driver to Never Win a Title, and There’s a Good Reason for It

While Mark Martin may not have been able to clinch the championship, he sure made his mark at Roush Racing as a driver.

Martin is arguably the best Roush Racing driver

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Roush Racing have two Cup Series championships with Matt Kenseth in 2003 and Kurt Busch in 2004. However, it was Martin who sowed the seeds of the championship spirit in the team. It was in 1988 that the newly formed Roush Racing acquired Mark Martin and his crew chief Steve Hmiel. Despite showing positive signs, the team was yet to clinch their first-ever win.

This changed when Martin won his first Winston Cup race in 1989 at Rockingham beating Rusty Wallace by a mere three seconds. This was the first win for Roush Racing and one for the history books. The 1990 championship disappointment is a known phenomenon. One can say despite not winning the championship he does deserve a respectable recognition, the same as Junior Johnson or Denny Hamlin.

The margins of being a champion are very fine and unfortunately, Mark Martin was always on the shorter end of the stick. However, the tag of NASCAR Hall of Famer will remind everyone of his story.

Watch This Story – NASCAR Veteran Reveals Ford’s “Dead Ringer” Status at Tony Stewart’s Expense.