Kyle Petty's career at Daytona started in 1999. Credit: Autostock

Petty turning heads in Daytona 500 practices

No. 45 clocked in third during Saturday's late session

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Petty name used to be magical at Daytona International Speedway.

Lee Petty, the patriarch of racing's first family, won the first Daytona 500 in a photo finish back in 1959. Son Richard Petty earned his royal nickname, "The King," in part by winning seven Daytona 500s -- a record that could stand for a long, long time.

	History Lesson Kyle Petty's career record in the Daytona 500 Year Start Finish 1981 11 32 1982 12 23 1983 7 33 1984 15 40 1985 6 37 1986 7 16 1987 20 35 1988 21 18 1990 22 24 1991 6 16 1992 33 6 1993 1 31 1994 26 39 1995 13 12 1996 29 18 1997 30 14 1998 39 11 1999 24 7 2000 42 25 2001 28 16 2002 34 41 *2003 30 13 2004 33 21 Avg. 21 23 * -- Rain-shortened race

Kyle Petty started his career at Daytona in an ARCA race in 1979, and, of course, he won it.

But since Kyle was good at Daytona in the early 1990s, not much has gone right for Petty Enterprises. The lowest blow to the Petty pride came in the Pepsi 400 in July 2003.

Two of the team's three cars, including the No. 43 Richard made famous, failed to qualify. And Kyle's No. 45 barely snuck in, getting the sixth of seven provisionals.

A year-and-a-half later, things seem to be turning around. Powered by new Evernham Motorsports engines, Kyle Petty cranked out the third-fastest speed in the final practice before Daytona 500 qualifying.

Jeff Gordon was quickest at 189.849 mph but that was with a draft off another car, Gordon said. Elliott Sadler, who was fastest in Saturday's first practice, was second at 188.675.

Petty was a tick behind Sadler at 188.312. Jimmie Johnson was fourth, with Jason Leffler fifth.

Jeff Green, driving the Pettys' No. 43, was 17th-fastest.

Petty, too, said he got a little help on the fast lap.

"Morgan Shepherd had left and was on his first lap and he was running not fast enough," Petty said. "I won't say he was slow because he's faster than a lot of people. Obviously when you've got a car running 50-second flats and you've got another car running a 48, you catch it at a faster rate, so I caught him on both laps.

"We should have been somewhere around (13th-place) Travis Kvapil and Jeff (Green). I felt like our lap was close to Jeff's. ... That's a fast lap. It made that 47.40 that Jeff (Gordon) ran look magical almost. Jeff (Green) and I both should shake out tomorrow somewhere in the top 10 or 15."

That's still a lot better than struggling to simply make races. It's nowhere near where Petty wants his team to be, but all the pieces appear to be in place.

"We've struggled for two or three years down here," Petty said. "Our guys at the fab shop have worked their tails off and our guys in the wind tunnel have worked their rear ends off to build really good cars.

"We've always felt like we had really good cars when we come down here. We felt like if we hadn't had the cars we had on numerous occasions we wouldn't have made the race just from an aero standpoint. We feel like our aero numbers are pretty good."

But the Pettys' old engine program, Mike Ege Racing Engines, wasn't producing enough horsepower, perhaps as much as 50 horsepower down from the top teams.

With Evernham engines, however, Petty and Green are on par with the best cars.

"None of this counts until you go out tomorrow, but our cars are pretty good," Petty said. "They're running good, and the reason they're running good right now is because we've got Ray's engines. This is basically the same chassis and stuff we raced here in July and ran 25th or 30th with. We've just got more motor now."

Green would certainly agree.

"I think we've got a good package this year," Green said. "You can't have a good motor without a good body and vice versa. I think the guys at Petty (Enterprises) have done their homework on the bodies, and we've definitely got some good motors."

Petty has a new crew chief in veteran Paul Andrews, and the combination of Petty/Andrews and Green/Greg Steadman appears to be working

"For four years we brought in car chiefs from other teams and tried to train them as crew chiefs," Petty said. "We're past that point. We needed a crew chief, and Paul was a crew chief who could come in and get the job done.

Jeff Green started the 2003 Daytona 500. Credit: Autostock

"The more we looked at it the reason we'd gone through so many crew chiefs the last two or three years was not so much the crew chief couldn't work with Jeff Green or John Andretti or Kyle Petty. It's we had multiple crew chiefs that wouldn't work with each other."

That's changed. Petty said he wasn't even involved in Andrews' hiring, preferring to let Steadman, the 43 and 45 teams decide who would be best with which to work.

"If they can work together, that makes it a stronger team," Petty said. "That's the way we did it this time. It's kind of abnormal probably, but that's the way we did it. The other ways weren't working."

So far, it's working, and it's made Green cautiously optimistic at a chance for second Daytona 500 pole.

"I think we're pretty good, but everybody holds back a little bit," Green said. "I think we've got enough held back where hopefully we can get pretty close to the top five. I don't know if we've got anything for those top two or three, but you never know what everybody else is holding back."

Still, winning the Daytona 500 pole in the famous No. 43 would be "pretty awesome," Green said.

"It would be huge," Green said. "Anytime you can win a pole anywhere is huge, and I think we've got more opportunities down the road. To come to Daytona with the 43 and be on the pole would be awesome. It would be good for Jeff Green."

Both Green and Petty pointed to Gordon, Sadler and Kurt Busch as the favorites, and Petty said Johnson has a good shot, too. Petty, though, would be satisfied with qualifying somewhere in the top 20.

Qualifying is less important in 2005 than past years, as the top 35 in owners' points from 2004 are locked into the Daytona 500.

But Petty, too, is optimistic about qualifying, about the Daytona 500 and about the rest of the season.

"We have to learn how to win," Petty said. "It's been a long time, and when you've been with teams that get out of the habit of winning you have to learn how to win. We're getting back to a point where we can be competitive.

"First you've got to be competitive. Then you've got to take advantage of a few mistakes, and then you've got to learn when it's time to kill and when it's not time to kill and not go too quick.

"I'm not saying we won't win this year. I'm saying it will be a huge surprise if we do. We were 32nd and 35th in points last year. You don't come from 32nd and 35th to win, but we can get to a point this year where we could win."