CONCORD, N.C. — Mark Martin made a startling revelation on Saturday.
Martin, a three-decade veteran of NASCAR racing, a driver who drew wide respect from fans and peers throughout his career, hasn't been at a racetrack since he retired from the sport after the 2013 Sprint Cup season finale.
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Why? Because he didn't feel like he belonged there.
"I didn't really feel like I had a place," he said. "When I drove a racecar there was a place for me here. I felt kind of awkward about attending a race being as that I don't work on a car or drive a racecar anymore."
For his fans and competitors, that must be a stunning admission. For a man who dedicated much of his life to the sport, who was known for being as humble in victory as defeat, who put a more positive spin on his five runner-up finishes in his elusive quest for a championship than most could have — it was simply who he is.
Martin always treated both his career and the sport with respect. He genuinely treated each win as if it could be his last, embraced his achievements without boasting about them.
Now, he's back at the track for the first time after being named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this week. He will drive the pace car for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Green flag is scheduled about 6 p.m. ET.
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Martin admits that over the past few years, he's felt he didn't really have a role at the track. After competing fiercely for years, he wasn't working on cars, he wasn't working with rookies, he wasn't a team owner.
So what would he do at the track.
"I'm not claiming that my thinking is correct, but when you no longer drive a racecar, what use are you in the garage," he said. "After you've been a racecar driver, so you're going to hang around and tell somebody that might or might not want to know what happened 30 years ago out there. It's weird. I just didn't feel like I had a place. When you're a driver that's your deal. That's what you do and that's what you focused on."
He's not the only one. Excepting drivers who went into television roles or those who were involved in team ownership, a retired driver sometimes just disappears from the track life. After years of traveling and testing and spending a high portion of every week entrenched in driving and all that it takes to continually stay abreast of the changes, one might think it was simply a relief to be home with family.
In racing, though, there is a separate family atmosphere, a camaraderie drivers share as they spend countless hours in the motorhome lot with their competitors. How does one let go of all that?
"I've complained about this in the past, once drivers step out of those racecar, the hole closes behind them and they're gone," Martin said. "If you notice, Ricky Rudd is gone. Terry Labonte, prior to [his] Hall of Fame [induction], was pretty much missing. Driver upon driver upon driver, each one that quit racing, you never heard from them again and there's a reason for that. Nothing really compares to what they did do. It's hard for them to come to the racecar when they don't feel like they have something to contribute."
Mark Martin (Getty Images)
The hole hasn't closed on Martin, though. Now it is wide open once more. Selected for the 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame class, he'll most likely be a little busy for the coming months. He'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame in January — and will forever be known for his enshrinement there as much as for the myriad of accomplishments in his career.
And despite his absence from the track in recent years, he's clearly been held close in the minds of his former competitors. Martin said that he received especially special texts from two men he battled for championships in his career — former Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth and six-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
"I got a text from Jimmie Johnson that is incredible," he said. "I would love to share but it was sent to me in private and that is what it is. But it was unbelievable. I also got one from Matt Kenseth that was pretty unbelievable as well. Those two I screen shot, for life. They were preserved forever for me."
Martin has been enjoying life away from the track as well. He's earned that. The life of a racecar driver, especially in the era when Martin burst onto the scene, is grueling and time-consuming. It costs one valuable time with family.
Now, with his racing career behind him, Martin is finding a new kind of life. And while he misses his friends from the old one, he doesn't necessarily miss everything else that it required.
Just as he did his racing career, Martin seems to be embracing the post-driving life fully — and making the most of his return to the track.
"I want to explain that for me, looking out my windshield is very exciting right now," he said. "When I look in my rearview mirror it is a very, very foggy view of driving racecars. I'm cool with what's in my windshield right now. Really cool, really excited. That being said — I'm saying I don't miss driving racecars, but I have missed the people. The longer it's gone, the more I've missed.
"In the last two months, I've really noticed that I miss the fans, I miss the competitors and I miss the members of the media, the journalists and all that were around the race track and were my family. … This is a real cool opportunity for me to get back, connect with what was my family for 30 years."