Larry McReynolds clears the air surrounding NASCAR playoff comments, Mark Martin involvement

Social media and modern media can create confusion sometimes because conversations are not always linear. And Larry McReynolds did some clarifying on Tuesday evening after comments he made on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio were taken to be about Mark Martin.

On Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, McReynolds was speaking to Danielle Trotta about the playoff committee, and Trotta said there is one driver on the committee who is passionate about going back to the old points system to determine the champion. McReynolds quickly chimed in.

“I bet it’s a driver that has not won a championship,” Larry McReynolds said. Trotta confirmed that it was a driver who never won a NASCAR Cup Series title, and when one NASCAR fan on social media heard the conversation, the person sent the clip to Mark Martin.

Trotta then looped Martin into the conversation on Twitter, leading fans to passionately begin debating the merits of the playoff format. One problem…

“Absolutely not true!” Larry McReynolds said to a fan on Twitter who expressed disappointment that McReynolds had (reportedly) invoked Martin. “Mark Martin is my hero and proud to call him a friend! If you would listen closely it’s a driver that is active and on the council! I find it so hard to believe how you folks come up with stuff sometimes!”

So McReynolds wasn’t going after Martin, then. In any case, the discussion over the NASCAR playoff format is one that will be hotly debated.

And that Martin isn’t a fan of the current playoff format isn’t exactly a secret. So whether he was being called out by McReynolds or not, his points stand.

Mark Martin on the NASCAR playoffs

Martin may have never won a championship, but that doesn’t mean he had a disappointing career. The 66-year-old won 40 Cup Series races and finished in the top 10 453 times in 882 starts. There were multiple times Martin just missed out on winning a title, finishing second in points in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002.

In June, Martin spoke to Kenny Wallace about the playoffs and sounded off on Joey Logano winning the title last year despite being 20th in points. “Joey [Logano] being 20th-place in the points and winning the championship last year, that should’ve been the nail in the coffin for that playoff system,” Martin said.

“…The word playoff is very catchy. It’s wonderful, except we ain’t playing. Nobody plays, and there’s not two people out there. It’s not the same as ball sports. I don’t like it being called playoffs, because it’s not a playoff. Even the last round, if it was really a playoff, there’d be four cars on the track, not 36.”

NASCAR began a playoff format in 2004 and has evolved over the last two decades. Currently, 16 drivers qualify for the playoffs, and they compete in 10 races. The top four drivers in playoff points after nine races battle for the title at Phoenix in November.

On3’s Brian Jones also contributed to this report.