Kyle Petty
Petty atLas Vegas Motor Speedway in 2025
Born	Kyle Eugene Petty (1960-06-02)June 2, 1960 (age 65) Randleman, North Carolina, U.S.
Achievements	1987Coca-Cola 600 Winner
Awards	1998, 2000NASCARUSG Person of the Year 1999, 2000NASCAR Illustrated Person of the Year 2000, 2004 National Motorsports Press Association Myers Brothers Award
NASCARCup Series career
829 races run over 30 years
Best finish	5th (1992,1993)
First race	1979Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Last race	2008Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 (Phoenix)
First win	1986Miller High Life 400 (Richmond)
Last win	1995Miller Genuine Draft 500 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 8 173 8
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
55 races run over 10 years
Best finish	21st (1986)
First race	1982Kroger 200 (IRP)
Last race	2000Miami 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 11 0
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	100th (1997)
First race	1997The No Fear Challenge (California)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics up to date as of September 24, 2017.

Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American formerstock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is the son of racerRichard Petty, grandson of racerLee Petty, and father of racerAdam Petty, who was killed in a crash during practice in May 2000.^[1] Petty last drove the No. 45 Dodge Charger forPetty Enterprises, where he was CEO; his last race was in 2008.

Petty was born inRandleman, North Carolina.^[2] He made his major-league stock car debut at the age of eighteen. He won the first race he entered, the 1979Daytona ARCA 200, in one of his father's old 1978Dodge Magnum race cars,^[3] at the time, Petty became the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race.

He made hisWinston Cup Series debut, again driving a passed downSTP Dodge Magnum numbered No. 42 (a number used by his grandfatherLee Petty) for his family's team. He ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first series race, the1979 Talladega 500. In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the No. 42 (after crashing the last of his father's Dodge Magnums in one of the Daytona 125 qualifying races) and had six top-ten finishes, garnering a twenty-eighth-place points finish. He began the 1981 season driving his father's No. 43 for one race, before running a full schedule in his regular No. 42, finishing in the top-ten ten times and finishing twelfth in points.

He began the1982 season with two top-ten finishes, but later began splitting time between his No. 42 and the No. 1UNO/STP car owned byHoss Ellington, and ended the season fifteenth in points. In1983, he picked up funding from7-Eleven and accordingly switched his number to 7. He had only two top-ten finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He followed that season up with six top-tens the following year, but fell three spots in points.

Petty took his number and sponsorship toWood Brothers Racing in1985,^[3] where he had a then career-high seven top-fives and his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he won his first career race in the infamous1986 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond and finished tenth in the final standings. In1987, he switched to the No. 21 and received new sponsorship fromCitgo, as well as winning the1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He failed to pick up a win in1988, and fell to thirteenth in points, causing him to be released from the ride.

He signed on to a part-time schedule in1989 for the newSABCO Racing team. Originally beginning the season unsponsored, he and SABCO later picked up sponsorship from Peak Antifreeze after he drove their car to a top-ten finish at theDaytona 500, filling in forEddie Bierschwale, as well asAmes Department Stores. Petty and the No. 42Pontiac team competed in nineteen races that season, his best finish being a 4th at Atlanta. Peak became the team's full-time sponsor in1990, and Petty finished eleventh in points after winning theGM Goodwrench 500 atNorth Carolina Speedway with a 26-second margin of victory.Mello Yello would replace Peak as sponsor of the No. 42 in1991, and Petty was running eleventh in points when he suffered a broken leg at a crash in theWinston 500 at Talladega, causing him to miss the next eleven races. His abbreviated schedule combined with only one top-ten in the second half of the season caused him to finish the season 31st in points.

In1992, Petty rebounded to a career-best fifth-place finish in points, as well winning two separate races that season atWatkins Glen andRockingham. The 1992 season would be the only year that he would win multiple races in a single season. Kyle came very close to winning the championship in 1992, he had a flat tire at Phoenix (2nd to last race) and broke an engine in the last race otherwise he would have been neck and neck with Elliott and Kulwicki for the title. He duplicated his points finish in1993 as well as picking up a win in theChampion Spark Plug 500 atPocono. He dropped ten spots in points in1994 after he failed to finish higher than fourth, and lost the Mello Yello sponsorship at the end of the season.Coors Light became his new sponsor beginning in 1995, and Kyle won his final career Cup race in theMiller Genuine Draft 500 at Dover. He fell further down to thirtieth in points after only finishing in the top-ten five times and failing to qualify for the fall race atBristol Motor Speedway. He improved to a 27th place points finish the next season despite missing two races due to injury and failing to qualify for the season-ending race at Atlanta. He parted ways with SABCO at the end of the season. In 1996, the popular rock groupSoundgarden recorded a song called "Kyle Petty, Son of Richard."^[4]

Beginning with the1997 season, Petty formed his own team, PE2 Motorsports, and fielded the No. 44Hot WheelsPontiac Grand Prix for himself. He had two top-five finishes and nine top-ten finishes, and finished fifteenth in points, the highest points placement of all the new teams to run during the 1997 season. He only had two top-tens in1998, and fell back to 30th in points, causing him to return to Petty Enterprises and run his team from their shop, and became Petty Enterprises' new CEO. He began the1999 season with two early DNQs, and finished 26th in points despite finishing in the top-ten nine times. Petty also made guest appearances onESPN to provide commentary during Busch Series races. He had one top-ten early in2000, the same year in which his sonAdam died while practicing for aBusch Series race atNew Hampshire International Speedway. He missed the next two races and returned to drive the No. 44 for the rest of the summer, before moving to the Busch Series full-time to finish out the season in Adam's No. 45Sprint Chevrolet. He had four top-tens in the car over a span of fourteen races, and attempted two Cup races with the No. 45 Sprint PCS Chevrolet in 2000, finishing 31st at Martinsville. He also filled in at theBrickyard 400 forPenske Racing after their regular driver,Jeremy Mayfield, had to miss the race due to a concussion, Petty finished 32nd.Steve Grissom drove the No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac for the rest of the 2000 Winston Cup season and qualified 5 races in 2000. Petty had to drive the 45 Sprint PCS Chevrolet and the No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac and qualified in nineteen races in 2000, causing him to finish 41st in the points standings in the 2000 Winston Cup Series.

In2001, Petty brought the No. 45 to Cup full-time and switched toDodge. He failed to qualify for twelve races that season and failed to finish higher than sixteenth, causing him to finish 43rd in points. He qualified for every race in2002 and had a top-ten at Talladega, raising him to 22nd in the points. After 2002, Sprint left the team andBrawny/Georgia Pacific became his new sponsor. He missed three races in 2003 (including one due to injury) and fell back to 37th in the standings.

In 2003, during theFood City 500, Petty crashed his No. 45 car in a hard driver's side impact, recording a hit of 80 g's. Petty held the record for hardest hit untilElliott Sadler crashed atPocono in 2010.^[5] He moved up four spots in2004 and had a best finish of twelfth. In2005, he competed in every race for the first time in three years and had two top-tens and finished 27th in points. When Georgia Pacific left after 2005, Wells Fargo,Schwan's, and Marathon Oil became the team's new primary sponsors and Petty duplicated his top-ten total in2006, but fell five spots further in points.

At the2007 Coca-Cola 600, Petty had his first top-five finish in ten years, finishing third in theCoke Zero Dodge. He then raced the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma in a Petty Enterprises car while broadcasting for TNT. On lap one as the cars began lap two, Petty crashed withMatt Kenseth, causing him to accidentally swear during the broadcasting.

He later took several races off to work as a color commentator for TNT's Nextel Cup coverage, replacingBenny Parsons after Parsons passed in January. He returned to the No. 45 after a five race break but surrendered the car for two additional races later in the season. Early in the2008 season, Petty Enterprises was purchased by Boston Ventures, causing Petty to step aside as the team's CEO. When the No. 45 car fell out of the top-35 in owner's points, he took a large portion of the season off, including races that did not conflict with his broadcasting duties. After fourteen races, his best finish was a 24th at Richmond. He finished 39th in his final 2008 start in the fall race atPhoenix International Raceway after getting swept up into a multi-car crash. According to the Yahoo! sports blog "From The Marbles,” he was being slowly pushed out the door at Petty Enterprises. In December, Petty told NASCAR.com, "I don't work for Petty Enterprises. When they did their deal and sold to Boston Ventures....they pretty much let me know there wasn't a place for me there going into 2009."^[6]

Any time he appeared on television with Speed, he wears a hat with a number 45 with a black line across the number, in memory of his son Adam. In the early 2010s he appeared on Fox Sports showsNASCAR Trackside,NASCAR Victory Lane, andNASCAR RaceDay as a television personality. Since 2015, he works forNBC Sports, appearing on all of their NASCAR related shows and broadcasts.

Petty has been married twice, to Pattie Petty (1979–2012) and Morgan Petty in 2015. Kyle has six children:Adam Kyler Petty (1980–2000), Austin Kemp Petty (b. 1982), Montgomery Lee Petty Schlappi (b. 1985), and three other children. Petty also has a grandchild.

Petty is active in many charitable causes, such as Victory Junction, a facility for serious illness and chronic medical condition children, which he established to honor his late son, as well as an annual charitymotorcycle ride across the country called theKyle Petty Charity Ride Across America.^[7]

Petty is also known for his brief attempts as a professionalcountry musician. He was signed to a record contract byRCA Records in 1986 and began work on an album with Don Light. His lone single from this period was "The Other Guy", which led to appearances onHee Haw and opening for acts such asRandy Travis andThe Oak Ridge Boys. Due to disagreements with his record company and management, Petty later abandoned the album project.^[8]

Later, Petty recorded a track entitled "Oh King Richard", a tribute to his father Richard written byRodney Crowell that was released in 1995 as part of a NASCAR-themed country music compilation album. A music video for the song was produced, featuring Petty playing anacoustic guitar in front of his father's No. 43 racecar, as Richard watched highlights of his career on a screen.^[9]

Petty appeared in the 1983 filmStroker Ace, as himself, and provided voice work for the character of Cal Weathers (the nephew of Strip Weathers, voiced by his father Richard Petty) in the 2017 filmCars 3.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKyle Petty.

• Kyle Petty
• Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America
• Kyle Petty driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Kyle Petty owner statistics at Racing-Reference
• Victory Junction Camp
• October 2005 interview with Kyle Petty from NASCAR.com

• Kyle Petty
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• 1960 births
• People from Randleman, North Carolina
• Sportspeople from Randolph County, North Carolina
• Racing drivers from North Carolina
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• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• NASCAR team owners
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• Petty family
• Richard Petty
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