The former Cup Series driver Mark Martin is becoming one of the biggest headaches that NASCAR has encountered in recent times. He has been, rather loudly, pitching for a return to the classic 36-race full-season format in place of the current elimination-style playoff format, following the results of a fan poll that he held on his X handle.
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The poll asked fans what points system they thought NASCAR ought to use. 60% of the 21,411 voters opted for the classic 36-race season, and Martin believes that he must be the voice of these fans. He spoke to Kenny Wallace about this recently.
He said, “The fans want someone with a voice to stand up and say what they think. So, I am the race fan’s voice.”
The problem that Martin has is that NASCAR doesn’t heed the opinion of fans when making decisions such as which points system to use.
He continued, “If the poll came in differently, I’d never say another word. But the poll told me that they want me to stand up for them and voice their opinion. I’ll tell you something. NASCAR is not going to put that poll out, right?”
Mine was 20,000 fans. I think that’s a decent sample size. https://t.co/PTgU1Hkt7u pic.twitter.com/h1jiJgtSUf
— Mark Martin (@markmartin) June 16, 2025
“They don’t want the answer because they don’t want the fans to know that it’s not up to the fans! It’s up to the TV people. That’s why I don’t like committees and the people of the committees who are all beholding to the almighty dollar.” NASCAR moved away from the classic format following the 2003 season for a valid reason.
Matt Kenseth had won the Cup Series championship after winning just one race all year. Other drivers who’d won a lot more than him were left licking their wounds at the end of the season, and this presented an issue that needed to be fixed. The promotion later introduced the Chase format, which has now transitioned into the current style.
So, a direct and straight reversal back to how things were two decades ago simply might not work, regardless of what Martin argues. But then, that’s no reason to turn a blind eye to what so many fans and one of the greatest drivers the sport has witnessed demand so aggressively. The ease with which NASCAR does that is why it is being accused of being too money-minded.
Martin continued to Wallace, “I don’t want everything to go back like that. I’m just saying I don’t think this is… The integrity of our sport is important to me. I feel like what I accomplished in my career is being diminished by gimmicks.” Those are as strong as words get from a NASCAR Hall of Famer.
