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Daytona magic Petty Enterprises out to build on track's success
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Like he has every year since his birth, Kyle Petty and his team will head to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway this week for Saturday night's 400-mile race. Petty, 41, will attempt to qualify for his 596th career start this weekend. He is 13th on the all-time list in NASCAR Winston Cup career starts. 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, Petty’s driving career began with a five-race season in 1979 and has netted nearly $13 million in Winston Cup competition. "I've been going to Daytona every July forever, at least, my forever," says Petty. "The first time I went there for the July race I was like a month old. I don't think I've ever seen Fourth of July fireworks anywhere else. "It's a tradition for our family but that's pretty obvious and it's pretty obvious why it is a tradition for us. From talking with a lot of fans over the years, it has become a tradition for them too. There are people who plan their vacations around the race, and have planned their vacations around it for years."
Fans think 'Daytona,' and 'Petty Enterprises' comes to mind. First Daytona 500? Lee Petty. Seven Daytona 500s? Richard Petty. More Daytona wins than anybody? Petty Enterprises. Daytona and Petty just go together. "The way you can tell somebody has been going there for years is when they tell you the name of the race," says Petty. "Pepsi 400? First time or two. Firecracker? Been going for several years. Fourth of July race? Probably been going since the first one. A lot of people don't remember that the Fourth of July race used to be run at 10 o'clock in the morning on the Fourth of July." The night race at Daytona, though, is a different race than the season-opening Daytona 500. "With the day races, whether they started them at 10 or 11 in the morning," says Petty, "nothing was particularly consistent about the track. The sun really beats down on that asphalt, especially in July, and you never knew exactly what you were going to get as far as consistency was concerned. A few clouds could change everything. A couple of races we started with the track one way and temperatures in the high 90s, then a thunderstorm came by and changed everything out there. "The night race can give you a lot more consistency. It doesn't guarantee you a lot more consistency but you have a better chance for it. Clouds don't mean much at the night race. There isn't any sunshine to worry about. The track can still change, and it usually does, but you have a better chance on figuring things out, and the changes aren't usually as drastic. "Other than that," he says, "it is your typical restrictor plate race -- step on the gas, hold the pedal down all night long and try to pick the right line. You have to run hard, you have to take care of the car, and you have to make some pretty good guesses. Do that all night long, and you're going to be in the hunt at the end. Mess up one time, and it can make a gigantic difference in where you end up." Petty teammate John Andretti picked up his first Winston Cup victory in this race in the summer of 1997. "This summer race is a whole lot different from the Daytona 500," says Andretti. "Obviously, this one is at night, the 500 is a day race. You go back there for this one and you have a different engine, a different car, and you are under different circumstances. You can’t have the same equipment for both races. The summer one is just a different race. "When I won my first race, it was different. Once you win a restrictor plate race, people know that you can win. It has two different sides to the story however. You then get people who tend to follow you and will draft with you a lot more easily, but you still have to be fast to be the leader of the pack. And that first win? "The biggest factor with me getting my first win," says Andretti, "was that I beat Dale Earnhardt. There was a wreck at the end of the race and it looked like the race might end under the caution. This didn't upset me one bit. I mean, a win is a win is a win. It just doesn't matter. "Well, [then-crew chief] Tony Furr came over the radio and said, 'You're going to get what you wished for. You're going to finish under green.' ... You know, I've thought and thought and I can't ever remember asking for that. I was the only driver out there yelling, 'Take your time!' to the clean-up crews every time we passed by under caution. "Green flag restart -- no matter what I thought," says Andretti. "I looked behind me and saw Dale's black No. 3 behind me. I just went as hard as I could go. But when it was over, we had won. It was important that not only had I won, but the fact that I beat Dale Earnhardt ... at Daytona ... under the green. After it was over, I was glad we had gone back green. After it was over. If I won under the caution, I think it would have been different. "We had outrun Dale all day, but people still would have said that we had Dale behind us breathing down our necks if the race had ended under caution. So, that just added to the win. If you could beat Dale at Daytona, you know that you had beaten the best in the business."
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