Mark Martin's NASCAR career began quietly at North Wilkesboro 28 years ago with a 27th-place finish in his first Sprint Cup start.
While that effort was far from indicative of the star he one day would become, there were signs from the outset that the scrappy little driver from Arkansas had plenty of potential as he grabbed two poles in only five starts in that debut season in 1981.
Since then Martin, now 50, has proven to be one of the sport's most venerable and versatile drivers. Through the years he has won 39 Sprint Cup races, including four this year, 48 Nationwide events and seven Camping World Truck races for a total of 94 NASCAR victories.
While his success in the sport's top three series is remarkable, the number of times he has strapped himself into a NASCAR ride is even more impressive. When Martin takes the green flag in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway it will be his 746th Sprint Cup race. Throw in 231 Nationwide starts and 23 Camping World Truck races and Saturday night will mark his 1,000th start.
Only two other drivers have ever reached 1,000 starts - seven-time champion Richard Petty and Michael Waltrip. Martin, however, was surprised to learn he was reaching this plateau.
"I honestly didn't know this milestone was coming until I had a few reporters bring it up lately," said Martin. "Wow. That's a lot of races. I didn't realize that I was even close to that many. To me, personally, 1,000 starts is not that big of a deal. How many wins I have in those 1,000 starts would be a stat I would be more interested in. Don't get me wrong, I think this is great, but I don't view starting races as a huge accomplishment."
Over the nearly three decades that Martin has been in NASCAR, he has seen the sport go through a number of changes.
"There's so much" he said. "I think the driver's themselves are one of the biggest differences that I have personally seen. The competition has gotten much more difficult. Back then, there were about 12 really good teams. Now, there are probably 40.
"The attention that the sport has gotten has grown about 10 times over. The media coverage. The fan support. Everything has grown so much. But nothing has changed how I feel about the sport. I think, back then, my job was to race cars, and of course now there are more responsibilities than just on-track. A lot has changed. I can't pick any one thing that was bigger than another."
As far as how the drivers have changed specifically, Martin says he can't really make a comparison between today's stars and those of yesteryear.
"I can't really compare them," he said. "The way I've viewed drivers, both then and now, is through my own eyes. It's hard today to recognize who will be heroes 20 years from now. When I first started, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison, those guys were already heroes in my eyes.
"Now I can't really tell you anything about the drivers. I'm blinded by the competition and by everything else we're doing right now. I have different view of drivers now than I did when I started racing. And I'm sure, 20 years from now I'll have a different view then too."
With 999 NASCAR starts under his belt, Martin says it is nearly impossible for him to pinpoint his favorite or most memorable races.
"For me, personally, I've had a lot of important wins," he noted. "I've said all along, and I'll still say, that you don't get to choose the races that you win...if you're lucky, you just get to win. I've given my best to all 999 races and made decisions in each of those that I thought were the best at the time. I wouldn't change a thing."
The Sharpie 500 takes the green flag at 7:30 Saturday evening.
