"I was scared for my safety; He was so mad" - Mark Martin recalls tense confrontation with NASCAR's Mike Helton over Richmond incident

Veteran NASCAR driver Mark Martin recently reminisced about the time when current NASCAR chairperson Mike Helton talked to him about an incident in Richmond. He revealed that the situation was extremely tense and he was "scared for [his] safety."

The ultimate target for most NASCAR drivers is to win the Cup Series championship. While some are able to achieve it multiple times, others remain left out. Such was the story of Mark Martin, who recently revealed that he almost caused a hazard at Richmond Raceway back in his day, trying to win a race and get ahead in the championship. Speaking on Dale Jr. Download Reloaded (via Dirty Mo Media), he stated that because he needed a caution during the race, he took a piece of roll bar padding out from his car and threw it on the track.

"One night, I was always chasing a championship, always, always, always. Never could win one," he said (at 0:20). "One night I was running Richmond, and I needed a caution really bad. I'd never done it before, but I needed a caution really bad. I pulled a piece of roll bar padding loose and threw it out the window."

Mark Martin, however, was caught by the authorities, as he further revealed. He added that Mike Helton questioned him about the incident. While Martin admitted to doing it, he recalls that Helton's reaction made him feel "scared for [his] safety."

"And they saw it, and they called me to the trailer after the race," he continued. "And I'm straight up guy. So Mike closed the door, said, what happened?' And I said, 'I needed a caution real bad and I threw the roll bar padding out.' And I'm going to tell you, I thought he was going to beat my a**. He scared me. He was so mad, and it scared me so bad. I mean, I was actually scared for my safety."

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Mark Martin gives his take on the controversial finish at Richmond Raceway

The 2024 Cook Out 400's end led to controversy after Austin Dillon's spotter was heard telling him to "wreck" Logano to win the race, which he ultimately did. He made his way to the playoffs. NASCAR later revoked his spot (but allowed him to keep the win).

Amid this row, Mark Martin talked about the "entertainment" jungle that the sport is turning into. He stated that he does not approve of the same.

"There's been a lot of money coming into it and it's given a lot of crew guys an opportunity to be on NASCAR teams that weren't before. But in a lot of ways when you bring in the big money, you have to provide entertainment. And that's what, Sunday night was entertaining to me, but race-wise I don't approve of that."

Martin also stated that NASCAR is changing direction from being a sport to entertainment, citing that watching one's driver get wrecked can be frustrating. But that isn't the case when it is a different driver.

"When you have bump-and-run and all this stuff going on at a racetrack, running somebody high, if it's your guy that gets the short end of the stick, you're mad as hell. But if your guy is giving it, you ain't so mad you know? So I feel like we're in the entertainment business now instead of the sport," Mark Martin added.