During the last year of debate, Mark Martin has been a vocal proponent of a full-season points format for the NASCAR championship. Now, we know The Chase is coming back. So, what does Martin think about that?

Mark Martin was the loudest and proudest voice for a return to a full-season points format. While he isn’t getting exactly what he wants, Martin was part of NASCAR’s announcement today and gave it his ringing endorsement.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Briscoe were also part of the panel who answered questions from the media and talked about the return of The Chase.

During the presser, Martin weighed in a few times with his thoughts. We’ll have to see if full-season format fans agree.

“Well, the fans were yelling at me, ‘We want full season points,’ so I yelled even louder, and almost got thrown out, as Steve said,” Martin explained. “I think that this is the most perfect compromise that you could ever ask for. It’s going to require our 2026 champion to be lightning fast and be incredibly consistent. And that’s what we can all get behind. So, I’m really excited, I think it’s fantastic, and I just appeal to the race fans.

“All the race fans, but especially the classic fans who say to me, ‘I don’t watch anymore.’ I say, we need you. Come on back. We’re headed in the right direction. Come back, join with us and we’ll keep making progress. And one more thing, for the broadcasters, for the media, the journalists and everyone, this is a time for a change. A change in how we cover the sport, and that means, instead of every week talking about the cutoff line, the playoff, who’s in and who’s out, all these things.

“We need to focus even more on our heroes. These guys behind me that are winning these races are our Pearsons and our Yarboroughs and our Buddy Bakers of today, and we need our fans to connect with these guys. We need them to connect with the crew chiefs. We need them to connect with the engineers as well. Give the fans something that they can connect to and help us build these superstars like they deserve to be.”

There is more than just a championship format to change for NASCAR. Mark Martin is right. The entire industry is going to have to adjust and change the way it does things, including the media.

Mark Martin knows not everyone will be happy

Even though Mark Martin is for the return of The Chase under these new rules, he knows it won’t satisfy everyone. There are still those who believe a 36-race full-season points format is the only way to go.

“Yeah, it’s not going to be enough for some,” Martin said. “You just can’t make everyone happy. I think it is the best possible scenario that you could ask for. After the second meeting we had, I was still convinced that we couldn’t get to this. I am so happy. Everyone wins with this format. Everyone. The fans win, they were heard, they win. The drivers, the teams win. NASCAR wins. Everybody wins. You know, you can’t always have everything you want. And, I wanted it all, but I’m sure happy. This is great for our sport.”

Of course, this required flexibility from everybody involved. Teams, drivers, and especially sponsors and TV partners. NASCAR had to convince them all that The Chase was the way to go, and the Playoffs were no longer needed. Mark Martin pointed that out before the end of the press conference.

“Steve won’t say it, but there are contracts,” Martin said. “Team contracts with sponsors. It’s a lot more complicated than our fans really realize. It’s very complicated. We’re really lucky to have gotten what we got here. This is a great compromise in my eyes. And the jump from 10 to 36 is not nearly as unlikely as from playoffs to 36. So, you never know what happens in the future. He didn’t say that, I did, though.”