Mark Martin's Big Mistake 

Mark was one of the best drivers to never win a championship. He was always a pleasure to watch and he always acted like the professional he is. A class act if there ever was one.

Mark is a class act, he always kept a smile on his face even when something went wrong.

I'd say he handled that pretty damn well.

im not a race fan but i cant imagine being able to handle that situation with such honesty and grace. mark martin seems like a champion human being congrats on that much more important than winning a race.

Funny thing is that David Green won the championship later that year and this ended up being his only win of that year so if not for that blunder he would have been a winless champion

One of the funniest interviews I’ve ever seen “I can’t believe anybody else could be that stupid!”

Tyler Reddick has entered the chat.

the race isn't over mark! well it is now!!!!!!

Love seeing the old concrete bleachers and the grassy hill at Bristol. I live about a mile from the track and I can remember when I was 4 and my dad took me to my first race there. We sat at the top of the wooden bleachers in turn 2.

Mark Martin is the man!! You know he had to be pissed, then to see a bunch of reporters running to you asking what happened just makes it worse. But Mark come off as being one of the most humble racers there ever was! This man is ALL CLASS!

Deserved the hall of fame 100%

It’s crazy how when announcers mention something, it happens. How does it happen so often?!

@3:06 "Hey John, ask'm if he believes in Santa Claus." 😂😂

Honest, costly mistake. Still, and always will be my favorite.

Way to go Mark! Finish second in points in 2009!!! 2010 here we go!

Only MM would be classy enough to be that good-spirited after that big a mistake. I'm a Jeff Gordon fan first and foremost, but I'd really love to see Mark win the Cup one time before he really does retire for good!

Mark has always been classy.

I remember this...thanks for posting it. LOL. Technically it would be considered a last lap pass for the win, hey? LOL

I would have loved to hear the radio in that Martin pit. Ned says Santa Claus come in March? Priceless.

ITS THE LAST LAP DAWG!

i could understand this out of an arrogant rookie... but good god, Mark Martin did this?

I would've been crying in my cereal. He has a good attitude.

I love that he had fun with it. Pretty cool dude. Prolly the best driver that ever drove a race car that never win a championship.

1:36 - BP: "And David is not taking any chances. He is gonna run another lap, just to make sure!" Jerry: "And so is Tommy Houston." ... & so is the pace car!...

6:02 "I can't believe anybody else would be that stupid" lmao

Kudos to Ernie Irvan for being a good friend.

@bandman232, why do you hate Martin? He is the classiest driver around who never says a bad thing about anybody. Everyone makes mistakes.

anybody besides me see the irony between 0:20 and about 1:00 in the commentary? who says truth is never stranger than fiction (well besides my cousin)

To be fair, Mark Martin saw the funny side of his mistake

Cool to see Christian Lovendahl here on Mark's team... RIP (1972-2000)

I hope Mark wins the Daytona 500 this year he deserves it. Him winning the championship would be nice too.

I remember watching this that fine Saturday.

Mark Martin isn't my favorite driver... But as a person you would be hard up to find a better all around guy! Things like this make you just love Mark even more- he's just a an all around class act!

Man I miss Benny so much. Fuck he was funny!

5:44 One crew members on #60 team coming out of pit stoll " Mark wth were you thinking" I would have been mad if saw this race he didn't know an honest mistake

Love watching professionals at work 🤪

O too kool. The entire thing. Great video

I know what Mark Martin's big mistake in his career was. He stayed too long at Roush Racing and let too many competitive seats come and go.

This has to be one of the most painful losses ever

I love this. Love Mark Martin.

He still has the most wins, that's good enough for me.

Mark not the only who has done this before

One of the cleanest drivers to ever race Nascar .

i remember watchin this race

One person clapping lololololol.

Never thought I would see someone top this, but JR smith comes pretty close. This one is still better though as it literally took the win away. Least the Cavs were still tied.

That right there is one of the classiest people in all of sports.

Whats the most frustrating about this is he ended up with 49 wins. This would have put him at a nice clean 50 for a career. Unless him winning this somehow had some weird butterfly effect but i doubt it would

I was at this race! I was only 12 years old but remember it well...

Would a Price is Right losing horn be appropriate for this situation?

I watched that race. Unbelievable

>:) I think I can add this to "The Commentator Jinx Theory" countdown... although I'd have to give Tommy Houston an assist too!

He did the same thing during green flag stops in 2004 when he drove around the entire track like it was yellow flag.

God I couldn’t imagine letting my whole team down lol I mean I let my parents down but I don’t know how it compares.

To This Day, Mark Martin STILL Doesn't Remember What Happened. LOL.

I tend to agree with this. If you look at his hand gestures to the other drivers, it looks as though he's signaling to the other drivers that all was good and the plan was going to go through. Thing is, if ESPN doesn't use that in-car camera at that point, none of us would ever notice that.

it was the only race he won the year he won the championship.... i met him a few years later and he denied it

WTF where was his spotter/radio guy? were they NOT YELLING AT HIM OVER THE RADIO!?!?!

Mark Martin was the car owner! He raced his own cars in BGN with Jack Roush helping.

mark martin = pure class personified!!!! huge respect for being able to laugh at himself, was jack roush laughing to??

This was the only win of David Green's championship season, and it came on a technicality.

Even the best of people screw up. Mark Martin is one of the classiest drivers ever, and he screwed the pooch on that one. It happens.

Tyler Reddick: hold my Dixie Vodka!

Well. the reason they started using colored flags years ago was to communicate with the drivers.The flag concept was a useful communication tool from back in the days before two way radios between pit crews and drivers. This mistake shows how technology can actually hinder professional performance.Since Mark's radio com was out,he completely failed to notice the flag man,and lost the race. His race team would have lost the prize money,so that must have went over well with the car owner.

Wow.....can you imagine?

Oop, accidentally hit send when I didn't want to It started in the mid-90's in Indy Car, when after every Alex Zinardi win, he would do burnouts. The practice then made it's way to NASCAR, especially with the younger drivers

Thats why although my #1 driver is jeff gordon, mark martin will always be a very close second, classiest driver ever

That's how you handle a blunder I remember watching Martin before he went to rush number 6 and thinking if they ever find a right front tire to stand up to his driving style he will be unstoppable at one time the num 60 windixe t bird was the winningest car in nascar history

WOW!!! That sucks!!! Martin is such a cool dude though!

@MidniteHaze1 Martin never does a burnout, he thinks it is stupid and a waste of equipment. He has made it publicly known.

Not the biggest error, not using a roush car to win his potential championship, that one I never understood,but he is still one of the classiest representatives of the sport.

I heard later that at the drivers meeting the next day they hung up a sign that said the food city (or what ever) 500 mark not 499

I only know the beatboxing Mark Martin lol

LMAO ive always wanted to see the whole finish.. i have it clipped on a nascar dvd i bought

i thought Mark done this again rescently

mark Martin the true image of a man

@metalupyourthrash The whole burnout thing actually started in Indy Car in the mid 90's,

"I don't believe it" is right!!!

@OldFatandSlow I didn't know he died. Bummer, I always heard him called "the hat man". Like you said, he coordinated the hat dance in victory lane. I remember when NASCAR got rid of him. It was about the time TV started influencing NASCAR heavily Also, about the time NASCAR starting it downhill slide competitively, IMO. Just an instance of NASCAR forgetting its roots. Sorry for the rant.

Oops,

That was the problem because late in the race he had radio issues or so I heard so I guess they couldn't communicate with him.

actually their called tags, thats their purpose, to help get a video recognised. they dont have to be related to the video at all, everyone does it, it would be silly not to.

Trojan Boner of the Week Award. Grizzly Adams in victory lane.

i miss benny

I appeciate your opinion, but I very much rather see a race end in green rather than yellow.

What are you doing Mark? This race not is over!!!!! HEHEHEHEHE!!!!!!

no i was just kind of pissed that they fired david reutiman for mark martin it was kind of unesscary

DOOOOOH!!!!!!

Oh No!!!

yea i can see that too lol, just to finish off the pit road fails, hes basically done everything else there is to be done

Funny, but he probably said "OOOOPPPPPPPPPSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I wonder if espn had the not top 10 back then if it would have made number 1 that week?

0:56 I think I hear people in the back ground laughing.

mark martin the race isn't over!!!!!!!!!!!!!well it is now

This is Martin's luck as sad as it may seem stuff like this has happened to him all his career sometimes it was his fault but then others he just seems like the Chicago Cubs of NASCAR.

4:48, WHY USE VALVOLINE MOTOR OIL? because mark drives their car :)

Short people? ?????

I am expecting Earnhardt Jr. to do this soon.

and who says fact isn't stranger than fiction

wait I thought he was alive......because I remember NASCAR illustrated did a story on him not long ago