Sunday, September 28, 2008
Has Kyle Petty had it at Petty Enterprises? Was this his last ride for the legendary King Richard?
Kyle Petty: Have Sponsor, Will Travel. Petty Enterprises seems in considerable disarray this fall, and it looks like Kyle Petty may well have run his last race for the family business. But sponsor Wells Fargo may well follow him to a new team. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Mike Mulhern
KANSAS CITY, Kansas
Was this Kyle Petty’s last race for Petty Enterprises?
Sunday’s Kansas 400 looks like it might well have been his last NASCAR Sprint Cup run for the family business that he’s worked for for so many years, that his grandfather Lee founded in 1949 and that his father Richard has been running all these years.
That pending departure—not of Kyle Petty’s own doing—is the stunning word from Patti Petty, Kyle’s wife.
Kyle Petty has been the center of a family storm of controversy since the spring, and he insists he doesn’t think he’s part of the long-running problems at Petty Enterprises.
And Patti Petty says her husband is determined to stay at the wheel of a Cup car.....for someone.
Kyle Petty himself—who finished 41st Sunday, after recent runs of 24th at Richmond, 38th at California, and 31st at Bristol, following a summer-long hiatus— has been struggling with the entire situation, Patti Petty says. While Petty himself was stoic about whatever turmoil is going on behind the scenes, promising to talk about things eventually, his wife was quite emotional – “Maybe I’m the only one here willing to tell the truth,” she said. “They haven’t wanted Kyle in the car the last three years. They want a young driver, a 30-year-old, a 20-year-old.
“But Wells Fargo, our sponsor, says it’s going to stay with Kyle, whatever he does.
“I wish Chip Ganassi (a fellow Dodge team owner) would take a look at Kyle. He’s got a 12-race sponsorship deal for next year that would be a perfect part-time schedule for Kyle. And Kyle could help mentor a young driver.
“They told him at Watkins Glen (August 10th) – right when he was standing there in his driver’s suit – that they didn’t want him in the car.”
Boris Said, the veteran road racer, took over the Petty car and finished 24th.
There are indications that Michael McDowell, currently driving for Michael Waltrip’s Toyota operation, and AJ Allmendinger, currently driving for Team Red Bull, are under consideration for the Petty ride, as teammate with Bobby Labonte.
Kyle Petty is tentatively scheduled to run a Petty car at Phoenix in November, but Patti Petty says that looks too iffy.
Richard Petty sold a “significant interest” in the company to Boston Ventures, an private equity investment company, in June.
The Ganassi operation is losing primary sponsor Texaco at the end of the year, and it appears Montoya could move over to the fully-sponsored Target car, leaving the current 12-or-so-race Wrigley’s sponsorship open.
Petty Enterprises itself has been struggling for several years. It’s last Cup tour win was in 1999 with John Andretti. And the team, which just moved from Level Cross to the north Charlotte area, has only won three tour events since 1984.
And Dodge teams in general have struggled this season. Though Dodge officials last week denied reports that George Gillett, who is the majority owner of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, was planning a switch to Toyota, the Journal has confirmed just such a plan in the works. The loss of the Gillett-Evernham team would be a significant blow to Dodge, because Ray Evernham was the man who keyed Dodge’s return to this sport eight years ago, and the Evernham operation has been Dodge’s anchor.
The loss of Gillett to Toyota would leave Dodge with the Roger Penske team, the Pettys, Robby Gordon, and Chip Ganassi’s team. Penske’s Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500, in a surprise, and Kurt Busch won the rain-shortened June Loudon race; Kasey Kahne won at Charlotte and Pocono for Gillett-Evernham.
The loss of Gillett-Evernham would be a major blow to the Pettys too, because they have been leasing their Dodge engines from Gillett. If Gillett leaves Dodge, the Dodge engine program itself might become an issue, since Gillett-Evernham has been such a major part of that operation.
Meanwhile the new Dodge engine – the R6P8—finally made it to the track this weekend, and Kurt Busch ran it in his Penske car Sunday. He finished 30th, two laps down.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t just brood. Express yourself here, and make your voice heard clearly in NASCAR headquarters in Daytona and Charlotte and in NASCAR race shops throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country.
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