5 interesting facts about Mark Martin that you should know

Former driver Mark Martin, who has been a part of teams like Roush Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in the NASCAR Cup Series, retired from the sport at the end of the 2013 season. He competed for 32 years, racking up 40 wins, 271 Top 5s, and 453 Top 10 finishes.

This list will look at some interesting facts related to Martin's time in the sport.

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5. Mark Martin ranks eighth on the all-time wins list

Apart from Martin's forty career wins in the Cup Series, the 66-year-old driver also spent 23 years in the Xfinity Series, where he racked up 49 wins. He has also secured seven victories in the Craftsman Truck Series, making his total number of wins 96. With that, he ranks seventh on the list of all-time combined wins in the NASCAR national series. He is only one win short of Dale Earnhardt's record. His 49 victories in the Xfinity Series are also a series wins record that he has held for 14 years.

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4. He has been a Championship runner-up five times

Mark Martin has never won a Cup Series Championship title but has come close five times. The first two times that the former Roush Racing driver got close to the victory crown were in 1990 and 1994, missing out on the title both times to Dale Earnhardt. His 1990 loss was the closest he ever got to the top spot, missing by 26 points. He would also get second place in the points standings in 1998, 2002, and 2009, losing to Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Jimmie Johnson respectively.

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3. Mark Martin has had Top 10 finishes for 12 consecutive seasons

Since Martin's second season with Roush Racing in 1989, he had twelve consecutive seasons up until 2000 where he secured a Top 10 finish in the points standings. Apart from the three second-place finishes, he also had four third-place finishes in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 1999. His lowest finish in the twelve-season span was eighth place at the end of the run in 2000. He had dual sixth-place finishes and single fourth and fifth-place finishes over those dozen years.

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2. He was the first driver for Roush Racing

Roush Racing, now known as Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing, had its first season in the Cup Series in 1988 with a single-car charter that was piloted by Mark Martin. During Martin's 19-year tenure with the team, he achieved 35 wins with it. He was also with it for its two consecutive championship title-winning years in 2003 and 2004.

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1. Mark Martin is the record-holder for the fastest 500-mile race

In 1997, at the Talladega Superspeedway, Mark Martin achieved an average speed of 188.354 mph at the Winston 500. Martin, driving the Roush Racing's Ford Thunderbird, completed the race in 2 hours and 39 minutes, which was helped by no caution flags being waved during the race. This was one of the driver's four race wins in 1997, which also helped him achieve a third-place finish in the standings.