It hurts when you lose a race you knew you could potentially win. And it hurts even more when your teammates win, but you couldn’t. This is what happened with Mark Martin in 2002. It wasn’t a lack of speed or effort, but it was Roush Racing’s internal struggles with the cars and mechanical issues. Now, decades later, Martin has opened up about the painful details behind that title that could’ve been his.
Mark Martin on why they lost the 2002 championship
“We really should have won the championship that year,” Martin said. “We just broke one too many times. We were in a position to win it, we just couldn’t fall out. And sure enough, we fell out, and that cost us.” Mark Martin said while reflecting on his loss.
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Roush Racing was already coming off a bad year in 2001. By 2002, they had four full-time drivers, with veterans like Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, and Mark Martin himself. The struggle started when all the teams required the same car, and that placed the engineers under immense pressure because all the drivers had their own preferences and wanted different setups.
This was especially in the case of Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth, who had their set of differences over aerodynamics.
Mark Martin unpacked this core issue during a recent conversation, saying, “Matt Kenseth likes the opposite in aero than I do. And we go through a struggle there because I don’t like the aero that Matt likes, and he didn’t like mine, and he’s having success with his, and I try his, and I don’t like it on mine, and so we struggle through that for, you know, a year or two there.”
Martin’s preference for higher downforce suited his smooth style, while Kenseth thrived on lower-drag setups for straight-line speed, mirroring their on-track personalities.
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Martin still praised his crew’s vibe amid the chaos. “The energy was really good in 2002 because I had all these young guys. This is when we were at five teams, and there’s a lot of pressure to have all the cars built the same.”
His No. 6 car ran well as he grabbed one big win at Charlotte, earned several poles, and scored tons of top-5 finishes through 36 races. That put him second in points with 4,762, behind Tony Stewart’s 4,800 by just 38 points heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway.
But ultimately, bad luck struck Martin with mechanical issues. Engines failed, and parts broke at the wrong times. Moreover, Kurt Busch went on to win races that year for them.
So, to add to his own struggles, the teammates’ success hurt Martin more, but his team still fought hard. There were moments where they came so close, but the reliability issues spoiled things at the last minute.
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Ultimately, Roush went on to win titles later with Kenseth in 2003 and Busch in 2004. But the tough memories of those 2002 struggles still stay with him.
Meanwhile, after playing a major role in the format revamp, Martin also commented on the new schedule.
Mark Martin on the new NASCAR schedule
Amid the changes, NASCAR has ditched the Charlotte Roval from the playoffs after years of chaos since 2018. The 2.3-mile track saw wild wrecks and didn’t suit Next Gen cars well. Fans and drivers like Denny Hamlin pushed for the 1.5-mile oval instead, which now gets better with the current rules.
NASCAR also reverted to a simpler 10-race Chase format without cutoffs or resets, focusing on pure points. And Martin has dismissed any panic.
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He said, “I don’t see a problem with not having a road course in there. Just happy that we have 10 races to decide our champion. I still think you’ll have to be blazingly fast and unbelievably consistent to be the 2026 champion. So, I’m good with it. I love the oval. Cars race really good on that racetrack right now with the rules package and stuff.”
On road courses dropping from six to four, including a new San Diego track, he added, “I think it’s a good number. Six road course races are quite a few for an oval-based series. I like the fact that they’re not stuck on any one thing.”
So as NASCAR is trying to go back to being traditional, Martin is happy with the change. Switching from Charlotte Roval to oval will definitely have the Next Gen cars race on it better, and he agrees with it.
The post Mark Martin Reveals Painful 2002 Struggle That Cost Him Title Despite Roush Teammate’s Success appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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