KANSAS CITY, Kan.
Was this Kyle Petty's last race for Petty Enterprises?
Yesterday's Camping World RV 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 said her husband is determined to stay at the wheel of a Cup car, for someone.
Kyle Petty -- who finished 41st yesterday, 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 said.
While Petty 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, driving for Michael Waltrip's Toyota operation, and AJ Allmendinger, driving for Team Red Bull, are under consideration for the Petty ride, as a teammate with Bobby Labonte.
Kyle Petty is tentatively scheduled to run a Petty car at Phoenix in November, but Patti Petty said that looks too iffy.
Richard Petty sold a "significant interest" in the company to Boston Ventures, a private-equity investment company, in June.
The Ganassi operation is losing primary sponsor Texaco at the end of the year, and it appears that Juan Pablo Montoya could move over to the fully-sponsored Target car, leaving the 12-or-so-race Wrigley's sponsorship open.
Petty Enterprises has been struggling for several years. Its 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 won three tour races since 1984.
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, it's been confirmed that just such a plan is 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 Loudon race in June; Kasey Kahne won at Concord 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 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. He finished 30th, two laps down.
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