Here comes Kyle

Important changes lead to Petty's steady points climb

Kyle Petty has improved 18 spots from where he finished last year: 43rd. Chris Stanford/Allsport/ Getty Images

By Denise N. Maloof, CNNSI.com

FORT WORTH, Texas -- He lurks low enough in the standings that one’s eyes glaze over before they get there. His name rarely surfaces on the media’s weekly most-wanted lists.

But life in the 20s beats life in the 30s and 40s, according to Kyle Petty, a situation that has nothing to do the reverse-aging process.

Entering Sunday’s Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Petty ranks 25th in the Winston Cup points standings. That’s exalted ground compared to where his No. 45 team spent much of last season; it finished a basement-level 43rd.

"Remember, last year by the time we got to Texas, we’d already missed two or three races," Petty said. "And then we came to Texas and missed this race. So we missed three or four out of the first six or seven races, so it’s been big for us."

There was no missing Sunday’s party; Petty starts 14th. But it’s the finishes that have him excited. Progressing from a low of 41st at Daytona, he finished 37th at Rockingham, 30th at Las Vegas, 15th at Atlanta, 14th at Darlington, and, before last week’s Easter break, a season-high 12th at Bristol.

That kind of statistical progress isn’t the two-win pace of points-leader Sterling Marlin, but it’s a definite incline.

"Our deal is just consistency," Petty said. "We’ve just got to get real consistent running at right where we’re running -- 13th, 14th, 15th -- right in that range. And then we’ve got to move it up into the top 10 and up into the top five, and that comes with time. That doesn’t come overnight."

"Everybody’s goal is to win," said Robin Pemberton, Petty Enterprises’ overall team manager. "But when you’re coming from 35th, your goals need to be 25th and we’ve done some of that -- make sure everybody has a good feeling of accomplishment."

To be exact, Petty missed five of the first 10 races last season, a hit-or-miss trend the team couldn’t shake. New in every way -- Petty moved from his longtime No. 44 to the Cup team created for his late son Adam -- the No. 45 group struggled equally for focus, results and stability.

Their problems mirrored those of Petty Enterprises, whose other two teams include John Andretti’s No. 43, and Buckshot Jones in Kyle Petty’s old No. 44. And Kyle couldn’t concentrate only on his own track troubles; he had to absorb everyone else’s, too, after taking over the company lead from his father, seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty, prior to the 2001 season.

One of NASCAR’s most venerable icons, Petty Enterprises had suffered nearly a two-decade decline by the time Kyle inherited it. And reversing that trend meant some basic, but significant changes: building identical chassis and parts for all three teams, mandating better communication and coordination between all three teams, and -- a Petty first -- hiring out its engines. Mike Ege, a former Robert Yates Racing engine specialist, created his own company last season, and now supplies all Petty engines.

Also noteworthy: the hiring of Pemberton.

"Mike Ege engines has been the biggest change at Petty Enterprises," Petty said. "He and Robin Pemberton. But one reason I think we’re a little better is I don’t have to worry about the 43 or the 44 team as much as I was worrying about them. That’s Robin’s job. He worries about them now. You can focus a little bit more on driving the race car and getting that part of it done."

Pemberton, who served as Rusty Wallace’s crew chief for seven seasons before resigning last December, has assumed Petty’s all-purpose, trouble-shooting role.

"I think just from a reassuring standpoint it was good that I could go in there and say, 'Okay, don’t be nervous about that,’" Pemberton said. "'What you’re doing is okay. It’s mainstream, it’s good. You’re in the right directions.' And once people realize that, I think everybody picks their stuff up and they work harder at it."

"It’s not all Kyle Petty," Petty said of his team’s 2002 performance. "It’s got a lot to do with these guys, but part of is I’m a bigger part of the team than I was last year. Last year they were pulling 90 percent of it and I wasn’t doing my 10 percent. At least this year I’m doing my 10 percent and I’m making us all look a little better."

Also re-assuring is the mental telepathy that exists between Petty and Pemberton. The latter grew up professionally at Petty Enterprises, serving as a mechanic on Richard Petty’s teams from 1979 to 1982. In 1992 and '93, Pemberton served as Kyle Petty’s crew chief at Team Sabco. Petty finished fifth in the final Cup standings both seasons, an accomplishment neither man has forgotten.

"It’s just people pulling in the same direction all the time is what made that team work," Pemberton said. "And I told the guys the other day, I said this really has a feeling about it of people pulling in the right direction - everybody feels good about the guy next to him having a good day."

"We changed everything on this team from last year to this year," Petty said. "We’ve got a lot of new people. Robin’s come in and taken a lot of pressure off me, and that’s probably been as big a change on the 45 team."

 

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