SPEED Quotes: Petty On Best Champion For NASCAR, Keselowski And Wolfe's Strength

Sprint Cup

SPEED Quotes: Petty On Best Champion For NASCAR, Keselowski And Wolfe’s Strength

SPEED analyst Kyle Petty joined Wind Tunnel on SPEED Sunday night...

Kyle Petty | Posted October 01, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Kyle Petty is founder of the Victory Junction Gang Camp. (Photo: Getty Images)

PETTY DISCUSSES THE BEST CHAMPION FOR NASCAR, STRENGTH OF KESELOWSKI’S TEAM SUNDAY ON WIND TUNNEL

SPEED analyst Kyle Petty joined Wind Tunnel on SPEED Sunday night to discuss with guest co-hosts Bob Varsha and Robin Miller the strength of Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 Penske Racing team in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which driver would make the best champion for the sport from a “PR perspective” and other topics. Below are excerpts from Petty’s interview:

Miller: (Penske Racing) essentially is a two-car team and Sam (Hornish) has been back and forth. So what does it say for the Penske organization, especially Paul Wolfe, as a two-car team to be able to compete like they are?

Petty: I think they are the two most underrated guys right now. We talk about Jimmie Johnson being an underrated driver and fans not giving him enough credit. But I don’t think people give Brad K. credit for what he does in the car and I don’t think people give Paul a lot of credit right now. He’s (Wolfe) young; he’s inexperienced supposedly and these guys are making calls and making things happen. These guys make more out of less than anyone in the sport right now. They had a good fourth or fifth-place car (at Dover), played their strategy right, pitted at the right times just enough to save enough fuel at the end. Brad is a master at saving fuel and they just outsmarted everybody when it came down to it.

Varsha: It (Brad Keselowski’s win Sunday at Dover) was a bit of a lucky win. How important is luck to winning the Sprint Cup?

Petty: I think it’s everything. We talk about Tony Stewart winning five races last year, but if it weren’t for a couple of cautions, Tony would have been down a lap in a couple of those races and wouldn’t have had five wins – he would have had two or three wins and Carl (Edwards) would have been our champion. Luck plays a lot in it but you’ve got to be there to take advantage of that luck. The Penske organization right now, back to the previous question, (has) two cars but only one in the Chase, and is running against the Hendrick juggernaut, if you want to look at it that way. It’s phenomenal what those guys do, but they do have to have a little luck. But they’re able to capitalize on it every time they have a little luck.

Miller: Who’s the best guy in the Chase to be the champion, PR-wise, who would you vote for? Who needs to be the champion? Would it be Johnson again or would Brad Keselowski really be the people’s choice?

Petty: Clint Bowyer would be the best champion. I’ll just go and throw that out there. He’s the guy with some personality who would have a good time and have some fun. I think you flip a coin between these guys – I don’t care. This is such a sterile sport now. Nobody has a lot of personality. Brad (Keselowski) has as much personality as anybody else. Jimmie was the champion for five years. Did the sport grow in that five years? I don’t think so. Tony Stewart was the champion last year. Did the sport grow? I think they’re great champions and they represent the sport well but they’re not Miss America. They don’t have to go out to civic organizations and preach the gospel of the sport, so I don’t think any driver is going to do that. Just that blue-collar guy to bring the sport back to the Earnhardt era, the Richard Petty era, to that older deal when fans really are interested in the drivers? My money would be on Clint Bowyer.