MARK MARTIN ON MUSIC – “Music has always been important to me. I don’t know if that makes me any different than anyone else or not. I’ve always had all my vehicles with extra oomph to them. They have all had loud speakers and stereo in them. Growing up I listened to bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC and music like that. But, there was always another side of me that likes Neil Young and singers that weren’t quite as hard rock. There was always two sides to my musical tastes even when I was a kid coming up.”

RAP – “I kind of got away from keeping up with different kinds of music when my family started growing. Then we went testing in 2002 and my crew chief Ben Leslie was playing rap music really loud in our truck. I was like ‘Man, this is really good.’ It just triggered something in me. That’s how I stumbled over rap music.”

WORKING OUT – “Rap music is like a cup of coffee for me. It wakes me up and gets me going. I listen to it when I work out now. I love the energy. I still listen to Taylor Swift and Johnny Cash and country as well but that’s about 1 to 10 compared to the number of rap songs I listen to.”

FAVORITES – “The real motivation in music for me is Dr. Dre. He’s the king who laid down all these songs for guys like Eminem, Snoop and 50 Cent. He’s a really talented and fascinating guy. He just makes magic. I’d love to meet him some day.”

MUSICAL TALENT OF HIS OWN? – “Ha ha….forget about it. No singing or dancing for me.”

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