Mark Martin Takes Credit for Jack Roush Giving Matt Kenseth His Big Break in NASCAR

Not every driver who has graced NASCAR becomes a Cup Champion. Sometimes, even the best miss out, for reasons that aren’t really quantifiable, but they do leave an impact and pave the way for others, as Mark Martin did for Matt Kenseth.

Martin, on Kenny Wallace’s YouTube channel, revealed how he was the driving force behind Kenseth landing a seat with Roush Racing at the turn of the century.

Kenseth was a driver for Robert Reiser in the Busch Series back in the late 1990s. He was quickly gaining fame and impressing the stands with his extraordinary skills behind the wheel. After watching him race in 1997 and 1998, Martin, who was a full-timer for Roush Racing at the time, was left intrigued. For fleeting moments, he felt like he was watching himself in the mirrors.

Furthermore, Martin had the impression that Kenseth was using his own abilities to win races and not depend on the expertise of his crew chief. Martin said, “He knew how to do it. He knew how to make his cars go fast.” And I was attracted to that always.”

Fate played its cards right when Kenseth and Reiser went to Talladega for a Busch Series race, in which Martin was to participate.

“After the driver’s meeting, we sat there on the bleachers and talked for about 20-30 minutes, and I just really liked him,” Martin continued. “I could tell, you know, 100%, this is a dude that reminds me of a career that I’ve had. He’s a good dude, smart guy. It was just the right thing. So, I went straight to the holler to get dressed for the race. The Busch race. And Jack was there.”

Martin told Roush that he had to sign Kenseth, even though there was no place for him on the team. The team owner wasn’t someone who always obliged to his words, but that time, he did. Martin concluded with pride in his eyes that Kenseth never let him down after that. Only a few years later, in 2003, Kenseth won the Cup Series championship.

He went on to race for the team in a full-time role till the end of the 2012 season, before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing. He returned as a part-time driver for a single season, in 2018, and retired from the sport altogether in 2020. Martin’s exuberance when narrating the story made it clear that he considers bringing Martin to the Roush camp to be one of his significant achievements.