One of NASCAR’s most iconic drivers, Mark Martin, has recently been in the spotlight for his stance on the sport’s playoff debate.

After receiving a lot of support for his standing in the debate, Martin appeared on Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour” podcast to discuss last week’s developments. However, that was not Martin’s main agenda when sitting with the 2014 championship winner.

While conversing with Harvick, Martin opened up about several aspects of his career, including an incident with Bobby Allison that changed the course of his entire career.

Mark Martin Revealed the Moment That Changed the Course of His Career

Martin, who had some of the best days of his career with Roush Racing, spoke briefly about his long tenure with the team. He began by describing how he entered Jack Roush’s squad in 1988.

The NASCAR Hall of Famer began by highlighting that his upcoming book would reveal several aspects of his career, including his time at Roush Racing and his relationship with the team owner. Martin admitted that he was not the first choice when Roush Racing was scouting new drivers to join the team.

Read More: Mark Martin Admits Feeling ‘Embarrassed’ but Refuses To Stay Silent on NASCAR’s Playoff Format

Instead, the team was looking to onboard Bobby Allison or Geoff Bodine. However, neither of those two was keen on joining Roush’s team and turned him down. However, Allison suggested that the team’s owner look in another direction.

“Bobby Allison turned him down, but said, ‘You know who you need to get? Mark Martin!’ And dude, I will never ever forget that,” Martin recalled.

After considering Allison’s suggestion, Roush Racing made an offer to Martin and started building a team around him from scratch.

Following this, Martin shed light on Roush Racing’s top management and revealed that the boss man was an absentee owner. He added, “He would come to the shop one day a week, and he had trust issues with me. He was very afraid I’d get too big for my britches.”

Martin further mentioned that the team’s shape would have easily qualified it as an ‘All-Star’ squad back then. However, owing to the team owner’s lack of trust, he never gave the squad full autonomy.

Along with this, Martin even mentioned a positive aspect of Roush’s personality. He continued, “Jack is extremely loyal. He’s loyal to a fault. He was loyal to people who didn’t fully deserve that kind of loyalty. But it took us a long time to build any confidence with Jack. I’m talking years.”

He then explained that despite being in Roush’s team for over five years, he still had not connected well with the boss. Only in 1993, when Martin had a heated moment after being unhappy with his car, did he and Roush finally form a bond.

After detailing how Roush changed as a person and became much warmer over the years, Martin concluded by saying, “I love Jack Roush with all my heart and owe my entire career to him. I stayed with him for 19 years because he gave me a chance when nobody else would and also because he was smart enough.”