“Dale [Earnhardt] Wanted to Know Me”: Mark Martin Reminisces the Intimidator’s Unsolicited Gesture That Won Him Over

Nobody would argue against Dale Earnhardt Sr‘s towering status in NASCAR history, but it’s well-known he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He wasn’t exactly the friendliest with all his fellow drivers and never dialed back his competitiveness on the track, even with those he knew of it. In many ways, he was the original Kyle Busch—Rowdy before Rowdy was cool. True to his nickname, ‘the Intimidator,’ Earnhardt didn’t hesitate to flex his racing muscle, and even racing legend Mark Martin wasn’t immune to his on-track antics.

However, according to recent insights from the former stock car racing driver, it seems that Dale Earnhardt may have just been testing Mark Martin, putting him through the paces to see what he was made of.

Martin’s off-track encounter with Dale Earnhardt Sr led to their notorious clashes

Earnhardt was no stranger to playing the villain. Behind the wheel of his menacing all-black car and often seen scowling behind sunglasses, he was always up for a bit of rough racing—his infamous ‘Pass in the Grass’ is a prime example. According to Mark Martin, Earnhardt would often “mess with” him and start “pushing [his] buttons” during their encounters. For Dale Sr, this was just another day at the races, but for Martin, it was a clear sign that Earnhardt was sizing him up.

While Martin was not very pleased with Senior’s antics at that time, he realized that those spats happened after a particular incident. The 65-year-old shared a story on Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s podcast that highlighted their dynamic. He recounted a time in 1990 when they both competed in a 400-mile race followed by an IROC event at Lake Burke in Cleveland, held alongside an IndyCar race.

After the event, as they prepared to return to Charlotte, Mark Martin realized he didn’t actually live in Charlotte but in Greensboro. But then Earnhardt offered to drive him home. This gesture, coming from someone known for his tough exterior, displayed a different side of Earnhardt that won Mark Martin over.

Mark Martin shared a memory, saying, “It was what two hours to Greensboro and then two more hours back home, but he said, Oh, I drive you home, you know. And so he drove me home at 2:00 in the morning he dropped me off at my house, and he drove back home. I think Dale wanted to get to know me even better. I think he wanted to probably know who he was going up against.”

That move marked the beginning of Dale Earnhardt Sr’s mind games. According to Martin, “He [Dale Sr] was testing me. When we had those brush-ups, it was a test to see what I would do and how I would react. Would I bow down? Would I cry and complain? Boy, he didn’t like that; he did not like the ones that would whine about it, and I’m not going to name any names.”

But everything shifted after Martin stood his ground and showed Earnhardt he couldn’t be intimidated.

When Mark Martin finally took a stand against the Intimidator

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Martin shared on his podcast, as reported by Dustin Long of NBC Sports back in 2018, “I had some issues with Earnhardt. The stories on Earnhardt are Dale really respected me before I got to NASCAR. He knew who I was. He treated me with great respect until one day in the mid-’90s, he woke up, and he just thinks, ‘Boy, I’ll just mess with Mark, see how much he will take.’ He started pushing my buttons just for the fun of it.”

The tipping point came when Earnhardt wrecked him during practice. The following weekend in New Hampshire, Martin decided enough was enough. He retaliated on the track during practice, which led to Earnhardt coming in and saying to his PR guy, “I think Mark has had enough.”

With that, the feud was officially squashed. Mark Martin further reflected: “I wasn’t going to cry to the media; I wasn’t going to complain; I was going to be a man,” Martin concluded. “I wasn’t going to be a baby. Some of the other people, their reactions … Dale didn’t like the way they reacted, he didn’t respect it, and he made their life miserable.”

Standing up to Dale Earnhardt Sr was no small feat, but as Mark Martin discovered, Earnhardt had a certain respect for those who could stand their ground and dish it right back.