Advance Auto Parts 500 - Kyle Petty Notes

Kyle Petty Notes, Quotes: Advance Auto Parts 500
‘Bringing The Sport Back to Its Roots’

Kyle Petty and the #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team prepare for their second consecutive short track race of the season this weekend. The team heads to the .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts 500. Petty has 48 starts at the speedway, where he has recorded 14 top-10 finishes.

Petty, 44, will be making his 718th career start this weekend. He is 10th on the all-time list in NASCAR Cup career starts, and fourth among active drivers. His eight career victories place him 45th on NASCAR’s all-time list in 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 $21 million.

The thoughts of Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge driver Kyle Petty heading into Martinsville:

“Man, this is what it’s all about. This is the grassroots of the sport. A half-mile track out there in Virginia, yea, this is where a lot of it started. This is where the excitement came from. Martinsville helped grow the sport to where it is today. If it weren’t for these short tracks, and guys like my grandfather and father racing hard every week on tracks like these, we wouldn’t be where we are today. This is taking it back to the roots for us.

“We don’t go to Rockingham or North Wilkesboro anymore. We race once at Darlington. Looking at the Carolinas and Virginia, that leaves basically Charlotte (Lowe’s Motor Speedway) and Martinsville as the two tracks that really bring us back to what we know as our beginnings. Martinsville holds the history and tradition of NASCAR and that’s why it’s an important track. It’s important because it reminds you of where we started and how far we’ve come. We started the sport here, and it’s because of the success of places like Martinsville that we grew. It’s why we can go to Phoenix and Los Angeles or Chicago and have such nationwide appeal. A lot of it started with the excitement that Martinsville and other places in this region created.

“The area is pretty rich, too, in racing. The Wood Brothers have a strong fan base here. Petty Enterprises is fortunate to have a lot of fans in this area. It’s close to our homes, and there has been a Wood Brothers car or Petty Enterprises car on this track probably every race since they opened the gates. There are a lot of memories and a lot of stories to be told about the Woods and Pettys - the battles between Pearson and my father. It makes this place a little more special to us because there is so much of our history here.

“Martinsville has been pretty good to us over the years too. My grandfather won there and my father won at Martinsville a bunch of times. I’ve been close there a few times, and Petty Enterprises as a whole has always run well at Martinsville. We’ve always had a ton of good luck there. Not really sure why that is, but good luck seems to come into play more at Martinsville than just about anywhere else we run.

“It’s a tricky place to get around and a lot of things are happening. It’s tight, guys are beating on each other, you’re always getting into the back of somebody, it’s a long race, whatever. You just need to have some sort of luck to be around at the end. Then, even after all the luck pulled you through, you need to still have something at the end that resembles a race car. You still have to have brakes that still work, fenders that aren’t rubbing, and a good handling car so you can race. It takes a lot to win there. You take that into consideration, and yeah, we’ve had some good luck at Martinsville.

“We want to do well here. We get a lot of support from the people at Martinsville. They come out if it’s raining and cold or sunny and warm. They don’t care. They just want to see us race. It’s amazing to see what some people will sit through to see us race, but that just goes to show you the dedication these fans have to racing.

“Martinsville is a trademark to short track racing and to what NASCAR built from. It’s an important piece of the puzzle to maintaining our history and tradition. We’ve been lucky enough to be a big part of that. Hopefully this Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge team can add to it this weekend.”