“It’s a different time now”: Mark Martin defends modern NASCAR drivers from 90s nostalgia 

Mark Martin came to the defense of today's Cup Series drivers from the nostalgic days of NASCAR in the 1990s. The NASCAR Hall of Famer said today's crop of drivers are who they are, and all race fans should embrace that.

In a recent episode of the On The Mark podcast, the Arkansas native said today's NASCAR is here to stay. For anyone clamoring for the sport to be how it was back in the 90s, the 65-year-old believes those people need to give it a rest.

Martin defended today's drivers and acknowledged how hard they work. While they might be different than the drivers of the past, the 40-time Cup Series winner believes they shouldn't be discredited.

"This is what we have," Martin said. "This is the highest form of stock car racing, NASCAR. It's the highest form, it's the hardest to get to, it's the most competition, it's the most difficult stock car there is to drive. These guys that are doing this bust their a**. They study, they watch tapes, they watch SMT. They work hard at this. The fact that they don't get their hands greasy doesn't mean that we should dislike them or crap all over them. It's a different time now. This is what we have."

Martin encourages race fans to embrace today's version of the sport. However, whether it's the officiating or the visuals, the former longtime Roush Fenway Racing driver still has complaints.

Despite that, Martin accepts that there's no going back to the 1990s and nothing can "fix" today's racing. Martin added that today's NASCAR is incredibly technological, and nothing will change that. Yet, the five-time Cup Series runner-up believes they can make small adjustments.

"We need to embrace what we have," Martin said. "It doesn't mean that we can't improve it with tweaks, but there's nothing that we can do to put the genie back into the bottle. We can't make it like it was the 90s anymore. We have to embrace what we have, and maybe, we can make a few tweaks to make it better." [1:17]

---

Mark Martin recently said there's no ethics in racing anymore

Perhaps one of the tweaks Mark Martin would like to see to today's NASCAR is the ethics on the track. Following the next-to-last Truck Series race of the season that saw Christian Eckes execute a bump-and-run pass on Taylor Gray for the win, Martin made his feelings known about today's style of racing via X.

"Ethics are gone in racing."

Martin retired from NASCAR competition in 2013 after competing in 882 Cup Series races. He last drove for Stewart-Haas Racing as a fill-in for Tony Stewart, who was sidelined with a broken leg at the time.

Martin was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017. He tallied 40 Cup Series victories and his 49 wins in the Xfinity Series is the second-most of all-time.