It doesn't end there, however. Merely getting into races last season was a challenge. Kyle, in the No. 45, failed to make 12 of the tour's 36 events, while Andretti missed one race, and Jones failed to make five of the 35 races he attempted to run in Petty's No. 44. The average starting position for each driver further enhanced Petty Enterprises' role as back marker: Andretti's average start was 22.5; Kyle's was 27.4; and Jones' was 31.6. Although Andretti started in the Top 10 seven times and Kyle twice, the three, in their combined 89 starts, started 25th or worse a total of 51 times.
"It was frustrating because we felt like we had the people and the equipment and should have done better," says Richard. "Not making all those races, I guess, was the biggest disappointment. In the race, we weren't that good, but we weren't near as bad as what our qualifying effort was."
The ChangesOne of the most significant steps toward improving qualifying was Petty Enterprises' alignment late last year with engine builder Mike Ege, whose company will provide all engines to the three cars. It was a move without precedent, as the Pettys had never gone outside their own organization for engines. "We had to think long and hard about that," says Richard. "That's a big, big deal."
Other changes involve the management side of Petty Enterprises. When Kyle came back to Petty Enterprises in 1997, after 12 years driving for other teams, he gradually began assuming leadership from Richard. Today, in his role as CEO, Kyle "pretty much runs the show, with help from a lot of people," according to Richard. "He's getting into a lot of new territory that he's never been in. I mean, the business part of it, the engineering part of it, the R&D part of it; he's been on the outskirts. Now he's having to get in there and get his feet wet and do budgets and the whole cotton picking thing from there down."
Help has arrived, though. Robin Pemberton, longtime crew chief for Rusty Wallace, has joined the team as vice president and general manager. Pemberton's role, according to Richard, is to coordinate the three cars, so that the three work together rather than as three separate units. During the off-season, the teams were placed under one roof. All testing, all research and development, and all related programs will be under Pemberton's watch.
"Before, we just had the crew chiefs and sort of managed from there," says Richard. "Now we've said, 'OK, we need to coordinate all these three groups so the left hand knows what the right hand is doing,' basically."
In January of 2001, mere weeks before the start of a new season, the Petty shops contained just two complete race cars. All of the Pontiac equipment had been moved out and new Dodge equipment was gradually taking its place. The shop was abuzz with change, but the work had only just started.
"Even though the chassis and stuff are the same, the bodies are different," says Richard. "We had to go through what the body needed as far as chassis parts, suspension and stuff like that, which we didn't know. We had to learn. Everywhere we went, we learned. Hopefully what we learned last year we can start putting it together and getting the benefit out of it this year."
The move to Dodge and the addition of the Jones car prior to the 2001 season put Petty Enterprises into a state of flux few teams could have handled with success. Of the Dodge teams, only the Ganassi Racing entry of Sterling Marlin had an outstanding year, winning two races and finishing third in points.
Developing consistency will be key to finding similar success at Petty Enterprises. Andretti, for example, followed finishes of sixth and second with finishes of 31st, 35th, and 37th last season. An 11th-place starting spot was followed by a 39th-starting spot. A 42nd followed by a sixth, and so on.