Pontiac Excitement 400 - Kyle Petty Notes

Kyle Petty Notes, Quotes: Richmond 400
Dominance: Just Not The Same Anymore

Petty Enterprises and Richmond (Va.) International Raceway are practically synonymous. In fact, more Virginians probably support the efforts of Petty Enterprises than they do of most other teams, including the ones based in Virginia.

Kyle Petty and the Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team will be looking to increase that support when they travel to the .750-mile speedway for Saturday night’s Richmond 400.

Petty, 42, will be making his 656th career start this weekend. He is 11th on the all-time list in NASCAR Winston Cup career starts, and fourth among active drivers. His eight career victories place him 45th on NASCAR’s all-time list in Winston Cup wins. One of the most recognizable names in international motorsports, as is his sponsor, Georgia-Pacific, Petty’s driving career began with a five-race season in 1979. The native of Level Cross, N.C., has won over $16 million.

The thoughts of Georgia-Pacific Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Richmond:

“The way the season has started off, dominance - well, I guess the lack of dominance - has been a big issue for a lot of people. Having a lot of different winners isn’t a new thing in our sport but it is probably more prevalent on a consistent basis than it has been in the past.

“What I mean is where we would go several years with, say, one or two drivers dominating things, then have a year with a lot of different winners, we look like we’re having more and more years with a lot of different winners, then a year with one or two drivers dominating things.

“Your definition of ‘dominant’ is important too. In Richard Petty’s day, winning 20 races was dominant. These days, winning five like a Matt Kenseth is pretty dominant. Winning all of the races Roush Racing won last year (10) is pretty dominant.

“But we’ve been heading this way for awhile. I don’t think anybody noticed it when it started but, if you look back, you can see the trend. For instance, you just don’t see the dominance of individual race tracks the way you used to. In a lot of ways, that’s a good thing. In a lot of ways, it’s not so good.

“Those places where one team would dominate, you would pack the place with two kinds of fans - the ones pulling for the team and one pulling against it. You need that kind of thinking. Fans need somebody to pull for and, sometimes, they need somebody to pull against. That’s not necessarily a negative thing, just the way people are. Maybe some dominance is a good thing from time to time for all of us. Of course, if you are the dominator you are more apt to believe that than if you are not.

“Richmond used to be one of those places where Petty Enterprises was the favorite just by pulling into the place. That old half-mile (.542 miles before being redesigned) was just suited to our cars. It was a tough place to drive. It was thin and got slick and had those old metal guard rails all the way around the place.

“Well, Richmond ‘grew up’ about 10 years ago or so and the game changed for everybody. Instead of that thin strip of asphalt where you had to bump against the outside guard rail if you were going to pass anybody, they built a wide, pretty racy track where you can have a lot of side-by-side kind of stuff without wrecking each other. It was pretty exciting the way it was, but mainly because it was so hard to get around the place. It’s pretty exciting now, mainly because cars can pass each other and can race each other lap after lap.

“You can race there, which can be a tough thing to do some places. The old configuration made it tough to race. You could pass but, when you did, the guy you passed ended up spinning or in the wall. Now you can run side by side and get by somebody, and they have a pretty good chance on coming back on you and taking the spot back. That’s got to be good for the fans.

“You can see how the fans feel about the new place just by looking up in the grandstands. No matter how many seats they put in there, they seem to fill it up. You can’t see it quite as well from the race car but I know watching the start of the Busch race there, it’s pretty cool to see all of those flash bulbs going off in the grandstands. That really adds a neat ‘special effect’ to the start of a race.

“Races at the old track (configuration) filled up pretty well too. There is just something about Virginia and racing. Those people turn out. Virginia has always been a real hot bed for stock car racing. Even today as the crowds and the demographics are changing and growing, it’s still the same. You talk to just about any track (promoter) and they’ll tell you they get the most people from their home state. . . and Virginia. At Charlotte, it’s North Carolina. . . and Virginia. At Dover, it’s Delaware. . . and Virginia.

“A lot of that started probably for the same reason stock car racing grew in a lot of southeastern states. There wasn’t anything else that could compare. There were no other major league sports. Back when Darlington (S.C.) was built and Richmond was running, there are no baseball or NBA teams or NFL teams in Atlanta or Charlotte or anywhere else in the southeast. People became race fans and they’ve stayed race fans, and their families have stayed race fans.

“That kind of fan base and a pretty good race track is probably the reason Richmond has done so well. Obviously, the fans like what they see because they keep coming back. And the races can be pretty good at Richmond.

“It hasn’t become a real easy track but it’s easier to get your car handling right than it was at the old place 10 years ago. Of course, you have to be handling right or you’re in trouble. Ten years ago, if you were a half-second off, you could still be in the hunt. These days, if you’re a tenth of a second off, you’re having some problems. The track is more conducive to making the cars and the speeds closer and closer but, because of that, just a little bit of time or a little bit of speed is the difference in doing really well and doing pretty bad.

“Everybody on the Georgia-Pacific Dodge team is looking forward to getting to Richmond. We think we can do pretty well there and we know, if we do, it’s going to be in front of a ton of people.”

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