Talkin' racing
Petty to interrupt season for TV gig
By RICK MINTER Cox News Service

Daytona Beach, Fla. The exit strategy for one of NASCAR's most popular drivers is starting to come to light. Kyle Petty, 46, announced last week that he has agreed to step out of his No. 45 Dodge for five races this summer and be in the TNT broadcast booth as an analyst.

He'll comment on one additional race - at Infineon Raceway - from behind the wheel of his car.

Petty, who has been racing since 1979 and has eight poles, eight victories and 51 top-five finishes in 785 career starts, said he plans to do what comes naturally to most race drivers - tell it like it is.

"Race drivers in general are pretty honest about stuff," he said. "They don't mince words very much - unless it's three or four days later - and they don't mind calling each other out."

He said most drivers don't mind being called out by a journalist, especially one who's been behind the wheel just weeks before.

"It makes you think about it when you get called out on things," he said. "You don't want to pull the wool over people's eyes all the time."

He said it will be especially difficult for drivers to deceive him this summer as he calls a stretch of races from June 10 at Pocono until July 15 at Chicagoland.

"I will have been in that car last week," he said. "I know what the Car of Tomorrow is like. I know what the new Goodyear radials are like. I know what the new shock packages are like. Hopefully I can bring a lot of that to the booth."

He said he plans to put an upand coming young driver, or a recently unemployed veteran, in his car for the races he'll miss.

It will be the first time since the formation of the Cup series that a Petty hasn't been a regular competitor.

But unlike other veterans, Petty doesn't seem to be struggling with the big retirement decision as his career winds to a close.

"Maybe I am at that place in my life where [broadcasting] is something I'm interested in doing," he said. "Maybe it's the perfect fit to make that transition from driving into a different role."

He said that the reason he has kept driving full time as long as he has is because he felt his Petty Enterprises team needed him to, especially after his son Adam, who was set to become the team's future driver, was killed in a racing crash in 2000.

"I really felt like I needed to be in the car to keep Petty Enterprises moving in the right direction," he said.

But now that veteran crew chief Robbie Loomis is running the shop and veteran Bobby Labonte is driving the team's flagship No. 43 and other proven mechanics are in his employ, Kyle Petty can once again focus on what's best for him.

"I know it sounds bizarre because we've been so uncompetitive the last five years, but I want to win races before I get out of this thing," he said.

"I'd like to just focus on driving the race car for a couple of years, not worry about the business side of it, just give it everything you've got every time you get in that race car, just like it's the last race you'll ever run.

"I think that's where I'm at."