"Makes it like the government" - Mark Martin contrasts modern NASCAR of "committees" with the old days

Mark Martin this week shared his take on the current state of NASCAR. While 23XI Racing's lawsuit against NASCAR is one of the biggest stories in the sport currently, there have been other subjects on which fans and insiders have criticized the governing body.

The most recent of these was the DVP policy at Talladega. Before that, conversation centered around the race at Bristol in which the racing product was seen by some as very poor, with the blame being put on the Next Gen car.

According to Martin, the now-retired driver who saw multiple generations of NASCAR racing in his career which stretched from 1981 until 2013, the reason for all these problems is one major change. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote,

"It’s run by a committee. All these committees. It was run by one man before, and you can complain about it all you want, but it was successful. And I didn’t like a lot of the calls that were made but I like them better now when I look at it than I like the calls that are being made today. This committee runnin' stuff, all it does is makes it like the government,"

He mentioned that now there are different interests with race teams, drivers, the fan council, and others. Martin said he wished it was just one person like before.

"This is what it’s going to be, this is our ball game if you want to play come play. That’s it. In some ways, I just think it would be better that way."

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Mark Martin commented on state of NASCAR after controversial Richmond finish earlier this year

Earlier this year, in the Cup race at Richmond, RCR's Austin Dillon took out not one but two veteran drivers, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, to take the win. Dillon's win immediately became a subject of criticism because of the way it came. It also came under scrutiny as NASCAR did not take any immediate action against a driver dumping two drivers.

In the following week, NASCAR ruled that Dillon's result wouldn't count toward a playoff entry ticket, though the driver retained the win.

Speaking about this controversial finish after the race, Mark Martin had said a lot of money has come into NASCAR, and the controversial Richmond finish was a product of that money in his opinion. Speaking on the "Dale Jr. Download" podcast, he said

"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 pointed to the varying nature of reactions to bump-and-run scenarios. He remarked that if it is one's favored driver who gets the better end of the deal, then it is okay. But if one's favored drivers gets the bad end of the stick, then one gets "mad as hell."

This, to Mark Martin, solidified the feeling that NASCAR is now an entertainment business instead of being a sport.