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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Kyle Not Bitter
Shortly after Boston Ventures took control of Petty Enterprises, Kyle Petty said he was told he would not have a role with the team going forward...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 10, 2009   Nashville, TN
SPEED analyst and former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty. (Photo: Getty Images)
Driver Reed Sorenson confirmed that Gillett Evernham Motorsports has secured full sponsorship for the No. 43 Dodge that he will drive this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Kyle Petty said Saturday he isn’t bitter or upset about not having an ongoing role in the pending merger between Gillett Evernham Motorsports and the owners of the former Petty Enterprises.

PE was owned by Petty’s father, Richard, who sold majority interest in the team last June to the investment banking firm Boston Ventures. Shortly after Boston Ventures took control of the team, Kyle said he was told he would not have a role with the team going forward.

Now, with Richard Petty, Boston Ventures and GEM working on a merger, Kyle Petty said Saturday he has no idea what his father’s role will be once the deal is complete and doesn’t talk with him about racing, either. Kyle will race some Grand American sports car races this season and may run a few NASCAR Sprint Cup races “toward the end of the year” but has nothing firm set up, he said Saturday in Nashville, where he is taking part in the Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust charity event.

TOM JENSEN BLOG: Nashville Cats

“Let me be real clear here,” Kyle Petty said Saturday. “If I come across as bitter, I apologize, because there is no bitterness. If I was 22 years old, I’d be bitter as hell. But I’m 48 years old. I’m at the back side of my career, not the front side. Everything runs its course. It’s a part of life.”

Interestingly, Petty said that he considered 2007 to be the last real year for Petty Enterprises, because it was the final year the team was run out of Level Cross, N.C., where his grandfather Lee founded the team more than 60 years ago. “Petty Enterprises, when it left Level Cross, N.C., it was just another race team,” said Kyle. “They weren’t Petty Enterprises anymore.” Officially, PE closed at the end of 2008, with only a handful of people slated to be a part of the newly merged Petty-GEM effort.

Queried about Richard’s new roll in the merger, Kyle added, “We really haven’t spoken about it. The less I know about it, the better off I am. … I’ve not been a part of it, I’ve not been part of the negotiations with the organization in the last five or six months, so I try not to just sit down and talk to him about the racing business. … How he fits into this new organization, I don’t know.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Petty Enterprises in NASCAR

One big change ahead for Richard Petty is that he will be part of a new team that has one car sponsored by Budweiser. Richard Petty has always been adamantly opposed to alcohol, refusing even to participate in the Bud Shootout in years past. But since Richard no longer has controlling interest in PE, he couldn’t prevent it. “When he (Richard) sold to Boston Ventures, he had no control,” said Kyle. “So there’s a difference between concern and control. … Once you take on partners and its big business, it becomes totally different.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

NASCAR 39/10: Reviewing the 60th SeasonNASCAR 39/10: Reviewing the 60th Season A unique and comprehensive look at a historic season in the annals of stock car racing. For the first time ever, NASCAR fans will be able to relive the entire 2008 Sprint Cup Season, over the course of a 30-hour anthology. From Preseason Testing in Daytona, to the Postseason Banquet in New York, viewers will relive NASCAR’s 60th season, and one of the most important years in the sport’s history.
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