Widely considered as one of NASCAR’s most excellent drivers never to win a championship, Mark Martin is one of the sport’s most iconic personalities. With 40 career wins under his belt, the retired driver once used to trade paint with the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and some other fierce drivers on the grid.

Having finished as the runner-up in the championship on five occasions, Martin earned himself several friends along the way, thanks to his positive outlook. One of them was Kenny Wallace’s elder brother.

Mark Martin Opens Up on His Relationship With Rusty Wallace

Back in the day, NASCAR was home to some wild, raw incidents, which are nothing like what fans witness in today’s form of racing. Drivers reveled in the chaos, with the likes of Earnhardt and Wallace earning themselves infamous images of being extreme drivers who held nothing back on the track.

Owing to this, many felt that drivers only harbored animosity towards each other, with no room for friendship on the grid. However, that was never the case, with drivers leaving their aggression on the track.

Martin and Wallace were drivers of the same breed, taking each other on with full might in a race, but also sharing a beer when away from the track. Taking to X recently, Martin looked back at his relationship with Wallace, calling the latter a “bada** mofo,” and “one hell of a friend and competitor.”

And Martin isn’t wrong to call the 68-year-old a “bada**,” given his water bottle incident, which involved Earnhardt.

When Rusty Wallace Hit Dale Earnhardt Square in the Head With a Water Bottle

In 1995 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Earnhardt devised a plan to knock an up-and-coming Jeff Gordon off his perch, and the plan included Wallace. The two veteran drivers worked well in keeping Gordon at bay and eventually took the P4 (Wallace) and P5 positions in the race.

That’s when Earnhardt decided to ram Wallace from the back, sending him into the wall. The ultimate betrayal left Wallace fuming for the rest of the race as he finished P21 while Earnhardt ended the race in P2.

Earnhardt was in the middle of an interview when a furious Wallace yelled to get his attention. With Earnhardt not responding, the former chucked a water bottle at him, hitting the late driver square in the forehead, catching everyone by surprise.

The two then engaged in a furious exchange, with many fearing the incident would soon evolve into a physical altercation. However, the two men later patched things up, but the moment signified that Wallace was never one to back out of an uncomfortable situation.