“You are a winner”: Mark Martin shows appreciation for veteran journalist’s heartfelt recollection of being ‘laid off’

Former NASCAR driver, Mark Martin recently offered support to journalist Jeff Gluck, after he shared his story about being laid off 15 years ago on January 5.

Gluck, who currently works for The Athletic, tweeted about the time when he thought his career was over. He lost his job at the sports magazine NASCAR Scene in Charlotte, North Carolina, which shut down after the global financial crisis in 2010. NASCAR Hall of Famer Martin responded to Gluck's tweet with words of encouragement.

"You are a winner @jeff_gluck We race fans are lucky to have you,'' Mark Martin wrote.

Gluck shared a tweet from 2010 that he recalled writing from the parking lot to his 3,000 followers.

"NASCAR Scene shut down 15 years ago today and I got laid off. I tweeted this from the parking lot to my 3,000 followers at the time and thought my career may be over. Very grateful to still be around today and I don’t take it for granted," Jeff Gluck wrote.

Gluck has also worked for SB Nation and USA Today. He started his own website funded by readers before joining The Athletic in 2019.

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"There’s more than one reason he’s the KING of NASCAR" - Mark Martin on Richard Petty

Mark Martin is one of the best NASCAR drivers without a championship. He competed in the series between the 1990s and 2010s and finished as a runner-up five times in the Cup Series. The 65-year-old retired from NASCAR in 2013 with 40 Cup Series and 49 Xfinity Series wins.

Martin, who now runs multiple automobile dealerships and stores, shared a photo of NASCAR legend Richard Petty beside the No. 43 car.

"There’s more than one reason he’s the KING of NASCAR," Martin wrote.

"The King" Petty won the Cup Series seven times and holds the record for most wins in a season with 27. He is part of four generations of stock car drivers and has won a total of 200 races in the series, including seven Daytona 500s. Petty also has a record number of pole positions, career starts and consecutive wins.

Petty competed in NASCAR in the No. 43 car between 1958 and 1992 mainly for his father's team, Petty Enterprises. He first raced with this number in 1959 at the Daytona 500 and won his first race that same year at Columbia Speedway.

He is the team ambassador of Legacy Motor Club, which installed his famous cowboy hat six-foot-tall statues at NASCAR tracks across the US. The first installation, made of fiberglass and concrete, was shown at Daytona International Speedway last year.