The Arkansan that was inches away from a Daytona 500 win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (KNWA/KFTA) — There has been just one Arkansan to compete in the top circuit of NASCAR: Mark Martin.

The Batesville native and NASCAR Hall of Famer competed in 29 Daytona 500 races. He had 40 Cup Series wins and was inches away from making it 41.

In the 2007 Daytona 500, Martin was two-hundredths of a second away from his first Daytona 500 win.

On the final lap of the race, Martin led with Kevin Harvick near him. A multi-car crash took place behind them.

After the race, Martin said to FOX he thought a caution flag was going to come out but it didn’t and Harvick won the race on a photo finish.

At the time it was the closest finish since electronic scoring started, according to ESPN.

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“This had to be the wildest Daytona 500 I’ve ever watched. I kept my eyes shut for a while there,” said former driver Richard Childress to ESPN.

Mike Joy who called the race for FOX considered to be one of his top five in a recent article by Autoweek.

“Here poor Mark has won everything in NASCAR except the championship and the Daytona 500. And here comes Harvick and he has help. Harvick wins the race while the whole field crashes behind him. I’m sure we’re going to replay this (during Sunday’s race),” Joy said.

Joy continued by saying when he gets asked about the wildest finish at Daytona, he tells them “Just watch the tape, 2007 tops them all.”

The second-place finish was the closest Martin would get to a win at Daytona.

He would start the 2010 race in pole position but would finish outside the top ten in 12th.

Martin retired from NASCAR after the 2013 season. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Martin resides in Batesville, owns a car dealership and opened a museum housing his racing memorabilia.

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