Petty Loses General Mills

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

I said in another thread how Petty's first order of business needed to be to get a big time driver before they lose their sponsor. Well its too late...

NASCAR.COM - General Mills' move to*RCR has Petty searching*for '09 - Apr 1, 2008

My guess is Kyle's sponsors are not far behind if he doesnt do something drastic.

[doozer]

welcome to yesterday.

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

Look, its a thread for discussion, I never claimed to be Dave DeSpain

[McLovin]

haha,nice
The good thing is we won't have to look at the 43 car in yellow. I hope they get a sponsor that can use the Petty blue and blue/red paint jobs again.

[KB5252]

I grew up a R Petty fan. I lost interest because the drivers I grew up with are gone.

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

Liz Allison from 104.5 the zone in Nashville is reporting, that Petty Enterprises had several "big guys" from Hardee's front office with them at the race in Martinsville. She said that Genral Mills' move has not been a surprise to Petty, and they have been courting several new potential sponsors all year.

[rbroyles]

Truck regular McCumbee to fill in for Petty at Texas
By NASCAR.COM
April 1, 2008
12:27 PM EDT

-Petty Enterprises has announced that Chad McCumbee will sit in for Kyle Petty in the No. 45 Dodge this week at Texas Motor Speedway.

McCumbee, who races full time in the Craftman Truck Series, made his Cup debut last year in the No. 45 while Petty fullfilled his television commitment for TNT. McCumbee made two starts during Petty's six-race absense with a 25th-place finish in his first start, in June at Pocono.

"Everyone at Petty Enterprises believes in Chad and his abilities," Petty said. "At Pocono, he did a great job filling in for me when I went into the booth. Texas gives us a chance to get another good look at Chad without throwing him to the wolves. He should be relaxed because he knows he can get the job done there."

McCumbee has made three Truck Series starts at Texas, with one top-10 and two 13th-place finishes. McCumbee qualifed second his last time out at Texas, but a late-race crash took him out of contention.

"Texas is a good track for him," Petty added. "He had a strong run going in the Truck race there last year."

McCumbee, 23, will test in the No. 45 on Wednesday at Kentucky Speedway. Texas will mark McCumbee's first attempt in the new car.

"I feel comfortable around the No. 45 team," McCumbee said. "[Crew chief] Billy Wilburn and I work well together.

"We're planning on going to Kentucky Speedway on Wednesday for a test, just to help me get used to the new car. The two races last year were in the old car, so there will be a little bit of an adjustment period there. I don't have a lot of experience in the old car either, so maybe that will be a positive."

The No. 45 sits 40th in owner points, meaning McCumbee will need a good qualifying run to make the race. Petty failed to make the field last week at Martinsville, the first time since 2004 the No. 45 car wasn't in the starting lineup.

"I'm anxious to do my part to help this team," McCumbee said. "We had a great race last year at Pocono. I'm hoping for more of the same this weekend.

"Kyle is going to be there, giving me advice and pointers. That means a lot to me. I've learned a lot from him already."

• General Mills-to-RCR in '09 will bring end to sponsorship with Petty

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

What do you think about this McCumbee kid rbroyles? I have heard much about him? Is he highly sought after or is he a lower ranked guy that Kyle is taking a chance on? Maybe somewhere in between?

[Vol Mania 21]

they should just pack it in

[rbroyles]

Originally Posted by **ORANGEBLOOD**

What do you think about this McCumbee kid rbroyles? I have heard much about him? Is he highly sought after or is he a lower ranked guy that Kyle is taking a chance on? Maybe somewhere in between?

I'm not that much up on him either. He's 13th in Truck points with 1 top 5 so far. Seems to have some talent. Fairley safe bet he will be faster than Kyle. I think the trucks may be a better training ground for Cup than Nationwide because the cars are more similar in how they drive.

[doozer]

there's been two things that did Petty Racing in.

1. he just now built himself a a new shop. just now. i don't know if anybody had ever seen the old Petty show, but it was a dump. don't get me wrong it's probably an incredibly historic shop but by today's standards it sucked. i'm not sure why it took a bajillionaire like Petty so long to build himself a state of the art shop.

2. the most important reason. Adam Petty was going to be a superstar. it's shame too because NASCAR has no business being at that dump snoozefest race track in NH anyway. when Adam was killed, so too was the Petty name. that's not to say that they can't get back to the top, but they took a major blow when they lost Adam. it still upsets me sometimes to think about it.

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

Originally Posted by rbroyles

I'm not that much up on him either. He's 13th in Truck points with 1 top 5 so far. Seems to have some talent. Fairley safe bet he will be faster than Kyle. I think the trucks may be a better training ground for Cup than Nationwide because the cars are more similar in how they drive.

The NASCAR guys are going to have to start looking harder at the other ranks of racing in my opinion to get top quality young talent. There are plenty of guys running late models (asphalt and dirt), sprint cars, and modifieds that could easily be groomed into better drivers than they have right now. These guys seem only to be scouting 17 and 18 year old kids running mini sprints(no offense FV) or karts. They need to open their mind and look at some of these early to mid 20's guys and the talent pool would be alot deeper than they think.

[doozer]

it's not the owners it's the sponsors. they all want that young face to sell their product.

[**ORANGEBLOOD**]

A 25 year old winner will sell twice as much as an 19 year old middle of the pack guy.

[doozer]

then why is nobody giving them rides?