The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR, is responsible for sanctioning over 1500 races in a calendar year. The governing body has racing jurisdiction over 100 tracks in over 48 states in the United States, as well as Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and some parts of Europe. Even though NASCAR can regulate brand deals, sponsorship, and how the sport works, not everything is under its helm.
Despite this, a major section of fans looks at NASCAR and points fingers at it for a lot of things, such as reshaping modern-day cars. This is something that a veteran like Mark Martin, who raced in NASCAR for over three decades and now runs multiple businesses, has seen up close. He recently opened up about how much of the criticism aimed at NASCAR is actually misplaced, and how sponsorship money, team demands, and OEM input have shaped the modern look of NASCAR cars.
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Mark Martin unraveled how fans blame NASCAR for everything
“All this stuff is complicated, and most of all these things, a lot of things NASCAR gets blamed for,” Martin said in the Mark Martin Archive podcast. “The fans hate that damage vehicle policy. They hate it. That’s the teams. That’s not NASCAR. The number location, that’s teams. They wanted NASCAR to make that rule.”
Martin raises a very important point here how often we tend to blame everything on the sport, whereas in reality, like in this case, it’s the teams that demand certain things for their benefit.
NASCAR allows the teams to pit for seven minutes (only 8 at Atlanta) to repair the damaged cars during the races. They have to maintain a preset minimum speed, follow the pit road rules, and repair the car. While the fans hate it, NASCAR doesn’t have any jurisdiction over it, as the team wants it that way.
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Then comes the location of the numbers. NASCAR had to allow teams to put the numbers forward on the door of the Next Gen cars. The teams intentionally chose this to provide more visibility to the sponsorship logos by choosing the rear quarter panel.
“So, all these different things for sponsorship reasons. So, the quarter panel isn’t as big as the old car. That’s something that I would have, and I questioned. And I said, “Why didn’t you make the quarter panels longer and widen the rear bumper and flatten out that wheel well and make it look like a race car?” Well, the OEM sent us this silhouette. That’s what the OEMs wanted, and so there you have it.”
Andrew Weber – USA Today Sports
As Martin explained, the OEMs have set the silhouettes for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Toyota Camry, and Ford Mustang according to the needs of the teams and their sponsors. Given how the sponsorship money acts as the financial backbone of the teams, one cannot help but agree with the demands.
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Then, he revealed another bomb about the horsepower. Engine limits, like the 750 horsepower, exist because it’s the teams who want to control costs, and not because NASCAR mandates it.
“And I wish they would have done it but you’ve got the teams fighting for some things to save money. That’s why 750 horsepower is as high as you can go because if they go higher than that, their engine bill is going to substantially go up. And so the teams don’t want it.”
With that said, it is imperative to acknowledge that even though NASCAR holds most of the jurisdiction in the sport, not everything works as per their wish. But unfortunately, when it comes to blaming, they take the center stage.
Meanwhile, as the new format talk is all over the town, and Martin is being credited a lot for the same, the veteran revealed how this wasn’t always the case before.
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NASCAR didn’t listen to Martin before
Over the years, Mark Martin has been one of the top names to ask for a change in the format. The driver, who raced in the Cup Series for 31 years, was not a fan and wanted the old format, such as the Winston Cup Series, back.
Sharing his idea, Martin voiced his demand. However, NASCAR was reluctant to listen to him and stayed on with their existing playoffs. Finally, in 2026, the stock car governing body changed the elimination style of playoffs to the Chase format.
This was a big win for Mark Martin. After years of demands on social media, the change definitely meant a great deal for him. “This is a win. Thirty-six would have been great, but this is great,” Martin said.
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“I think it’s a miracle that we came this far, because, honestly, NASCAR never listened to me when I raced. They listened to a few people, but it wasn’t me. So, for me, it’s the biggest win I’ve ever had with NASCAR,” he further added.
Under the newly changed format, the top 10 drivers from the regular season will qualify for the chase. After the final 10 races, NASCAR will crown the driver with the most points in the championship. NASCAR already used this format during the 2004 to 2013 seasons. Back then, it was called the Chase for the Nextel/Sprint Cup Series.
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