Mark Martin calls for drivers like Noah Gragson, Ross Chastain to 'get back to ruffling feathers'

There is always debate about NASCAR drivers and their marketability, personalities, and more. Mark Martin is on the side of outspoken drivers. For Martin, he wants to see Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain shake things up in the Cup Series.

When it comes to personality, there is a void in NASCAR. That is most likely a consequence of losing guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and others to retirement in a matter of a few years.

Mark Martin has been around the sport for a long time. He has seen the change. But he believes drivers like Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain are the answer, if they can be unleashed.

Talking to Chase Holden, AKA Garage Guy Chase on his YouTube channel, Martin dove into the driver personality debate. It isn’t that the drivers are empty of all charisma, they just aren’t free to express themselves.

“For the most part, you know, and I know you see it, the drivers have pretty much gone silent,” Martin said to Chase. “I mean, even, they don’t say much on social media anyway. It seems to me like, NASCAR media or PR does, you know, you can tell those posts that they post on their [accounts]. They’re advertising when the race is, whatever. I don’t know exactly, Noah Gragson still posts every once in a while. But we need Noah to get back to being himself 100%. The sport needs Noah Gragson, the one that leans over the wall and throws up when he wins. We need that.

“And you don’t know how bad we need that, and whether you like him or not, we need Ross Chastain to get back to ruffling feathers. We need that back. Not saying I approve of every time he does it, I’m saying we need it. When we lose Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, we’ve got to have some polarizing figures and some guys that just get people’s blood pumping and you know, we need Noah Gragson’s personality. We need Chastain ruffling some feathers, now.”

Mark Martin is not known to bite his tongue. Things are different in the sport today than it was when he was still racing. There was pressure from sponsors on drivers to keep a clean image, but there were some drivers that were bigger than those warnings.

Guys like Tony Stewart spoke their mind. It didn’t matter when or where. Kevin Harvick used to be the same way. Other drivers have ascended the unspoken restrictions placed on them.

Could Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain be those drivers for this generation? On the track, Chastain is one of the toughest drivers to pass. Gragson can be downright wicked on the track when he’s got a fast car under him.

I’m not going to hold my breath but it would be nice to see a driver or two emerge as the next face of the sport. The driver that tells it like it is. Could we get that in 2025?