Larry McReynolds Discloses How Mark Martin and His Mother Contributed to His Big NASCAR Break

When we talk about some of NASCAR’s all-time legends, the conversation is filled to the brim with talented drivers across multiple eras. But only one crew chief has had the honor of winning the community’s hearts by a significant margin over many drivers, bringing home Dale Earnhardt’s Daytona 500 win to etch his name into the sport’s history books. That man is none other than Larry McReynolds!

However, it wasn’t always rainbows and roses for the former Richard Childress Racing chief, because when he entered the sport of NASCAR, McReynolds had no plans of raising his ambitions to the level of becoming a crew chief, let alone a successful one. But the man who’s been honored with the nickname of ‘America’s Crew Chief’ would have never embarked on such a magnificent journey if it weren’t for Mark Martin’s mother!

The odds were always in Larry McReynolds’ favor!

Before getting his big break, Larry McReynolds found himself jumping from one team to another, doing odd jobs to figure out what fit him best. His experimentation would eventually pay off. While he was helping out his former team with an auction, McReynolds was approached by a woman who would change his fate forever.

Speaking on the Kenny Conversation with Kenny Wallace, McReynolds shared, “Mark Martin and his mom, Jackie Martin came to the auction. This was Mark’s rookie year, that No. 02 Apache Stove car. So they came to the auction and about halfway through the second day, Jackie Martin, Mark’s mom, kind of came around a corner and said, ‘What are your plans?’ and I said Jackie I have no idea. I think I actually called her Miss Martin. I have no idea.”

Whilst McReynolds had prior commitments with the auction, he promised to meet with Mark Martin’s mother to figure something out the following week. He added, “So got through the auction, next week, their shop was right there on the corner of 29, where the speedway is and the road and that’s exactly where their little shop was. So I went up there and again, Mark’s mom kind of ran the team, and we talked for a little bit, and Kenny, 15 minutes into the conversation, they wanted me to be the crew chief!”

Even though he had only been in the Cup Series for two years at that point, Miss Martin assured McReynolds that he would not have to go out of his way to assist Mark Martin as they had already been getting the car ready. McReynolds was asked to carry out a simpler task. He shared the moment he got his big break, “We just need you to go and make sure what Mark wants done gets executed. I said okay! If y’all are game, I’m game, and lo and behold, the first race we went to was Pocono and we finished tenth.”

Unfortunately, the deal didn’t last forever, and McReynolds found himself searching for another team once again once the season concluded. But everything that happens happens for a reason, as America’s Crew Chief found out. Soon after his shenanigans with the Martins, McReynolds was contacted by Bobby Hawkins for a run with Morgan Shepard in 1985, which opened the floodgates to his partnership with Kenny Bernstein the next year, his first major crew chief role, all started by the butterfly effect led by Miss Martin!

READ MORE: Larry McReynolds Admits to Almost Jeopardising Dale Earnhardt’s Chances of Winning the 1998 Daytona 500

Although the Martins had shown McReynolds the light, it was ultimately his capabilities as a crew chief that he gained immense love and support from the community! But what made him so brilliant at the role?

What made McReynolds such a brilliant crew chief?

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Speaking to Kenny Wallace about the one question people keep asking him, McReynolds shared what truly sets him apart from the rest. He said, “They might expect the answer to be that I worked hard, I understood race cars, I worked well with drivers, I never found a single driver I didn’t enjoy working with, and all of that is probably true but to me, the things I contributed the most to, is I worked very hard at surrounding myself with people that were smarter than I was.”

The 64-year-old burst out into laughter, sharing that if he was the smartest guy on the team, there were bigger issues at hand than just racing! Despite his excellence as a strategist and a man who knew his way around cars, McReynolds felt his strength lay elsewhere, “But I always felt like I was a good communicator. I feel like that is the success of any person, in any type of business, is being a good communicator, especially when you’re the leader and you’re the crew chief. And I would never ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Kurt Busch’s unintentional sabotage of Tony Stewart’s Daytona 500 dream 

After hearing from Larry McReynolds about his big break in NASCAR, it’s safe to say that it takes a lot more than just an understanding of motorsport to be a successful team leader, but what’s most important is giving it your all because you never know who’s watching!