Former Stock Car driver Mark Martin had glowing praise for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his efforts to grow Late Model racing. He called Earnhardt the 'greatest asset' for the NASCAR community as a whole.Earnhardt has drawn significant attention to Late Model racing through his ownership of the zMax CARS Tour. The grassroots racing series recently earned its first-ever national broadcast during NASCAR’s All‑Star weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway.Earnhardt and co-owner Kevin Harvick were also part of FS1's broadcasting booth for the event, which averaged 253,000 viewers according to Nielsen. In comparison, a typical ARCA season garners around 150,000-300,000 viewers.The series is currently at Florence Motor Speedway, and Earnhardt gave an interview at the event, saying( via X/Racing America),"We're never going to leave these type of race tracks and go to bigger, better, you know, venues. We love the grassroots connection. We love the vibe and energy that you get when you're at a race track like Florence or any of the other tracks we run at." (1:04 onwards)Mark Martin reshared the post and threw his support behind Earnhardt's efforts."The work @DaleJr is doing is for pavement late model racing is so needed. He is the greatest asset teams and fans could ever dream of. We are lucky to have him working for the betterment of our sport."Another worthwhile mention of a NASCAR driver coming through the ranks of grassroots racing is Josh Berry. The Wood Brothers Racing driver won the zMax CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car championship back in 2017, and has more wins in the series than any other driver.His Cup Series win at Las Vegas this year propelled him into the playoffs, while marking WBR's 101st race win.Mark Martin lauds 'brave' Christopher Bell for challenging NASCAR's playoff formatOn the recent episode of The Teardown podcast, Christopher Bell called for a return to the classic points system in NASCAR. Mark Martin couldn't be happier with Bell's position, as he named him his new favourite driver."I would like to have 36 races count towards a champion. That's how you get a champion of the sport in Auto Racing....I think you gotta have more than one. If you're going to have a champion of Auto Racing, it needs to be a full race schedule," Bell said via X/LostSchemes.Mark Martin reposted the statement on his X handle, saying,"Only current driver brave enough to speak the truth @CBellRacing. My new favorite driver."Mark Martin @markmartinLINKOnly current driver brave enough to speak the truth @CBellRacing My new favorite driver.Chase Elliott also advocated for the same goal, and Martin similarly voiced his support. Notably, Elliott's comments came at a time when Martin was embroiled in a controversial standoff with Larry McReynolds over his defense of the current elimination-style playoff format.McReynolds argued that detractors of the playoffs are usually drivers who haven't won a championship, a description that befits Martin's career. The remark drew fan backlash, and Larry promptly clarified that his comments weren't aimed at Martin.