Mark is one fellow Winston Cup driver who can. Mark's
father, his stepmother and half-sister were killed in
a 1998 plane crash near the Great Basin National Park
in Nevada while Mark was racing at Watkins Glen. Like
Dale Earnhardt, Julian Martin helped orchestrate his
son's career, forging a close relationship with him.As a result, Mark knows how Earnhardt Jr. feels and has tried to help counsel the young driver. Mark's initial inclination is to help shield Earnhardt Jr. from the publicity that has surrounded his father's death.
"I have more allegiance to Dale Earnhardt Jr. than I do anyone else in relation to that, because I am a son who lost a father and I am really, really concerned with how he feels," Mark said July 6. "... I know the pain he feels. Not all of it, because I didn't have to deal with it like he has. He still has to deal with it every day, every time he flips the TV on. Some of my feelings, whether they are misdirected or not, are wishing that I could shield him from some of that, because of the feelings that I have experienced myself, and I know it must be much worse for him.
"It's been harder for him, obviously, than me, and I feel for him. I wish I could help with that. But I have talked to him about how I felt about losing my dad and stuff like that."
Mark said he had been impressed with how Earnhardt Jr. had handled his father's death.
"He has done remarkably well," he said. "It is a real tough time for him, as well as everybody. (But) he has done well and DEI has done well keeping their chin up. And I probably don't brag on the media very often, but I think everyone has been very good to Dale Jr. as far as not wearing him out about it and letting him go be the young man that he is and go about his business and go on with his life."
Mark said he was surprised, in fact, that Earnhardt Jr. had faced far fewer questions about his father than other drivers had.
"I had a conversation with Dale Jr. today and I found out that he hasn't dealt with the same thing that I had to deal with it, and it surprised me," he said. "I thought he was about to blow a gasket. I figured he was at his limit."
