If you want to know what's going down at Petty Enterprises these days, don't ask Kyle Petty.

So says Kyle Petty, son of Richard and grandson of Lee, who founded the race organization in Level Cross, N.C., in 1949. Richard Petty is part owner of Petty Enterprises, which currently is in merger discussions with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Petty Enterprises entered into a partnership agreement with outside investment firm Boston Ventures this past May.

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It's got nothing to do with me because it's my father's company. Me talking about it is about like anybody else talking about it from the outside looking in.

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KYLE PETTY

"I don't work for Petty Enterprises," Kyle Petty said Monday. "When they did their deal and sold to Boston Ventures, Chad [McCumbee] was going to drive the second car and Bobby [Labonte] was going to drive the first car; they pretty much let me know there wasn't a place for me there going into '09. My deal runs out at the end of the year, but I don't go over there [to the shop in Mooresville, N.C.] because I don't work there."

When Boston Ventures partnered with the Petty operation, it was widely hailed as a move that would help move Petty Enterprises in a direction that would make them more competitive in the Sprint Cup Series. There was talk of adding a third full-time car to the two-team deal that recently completed the 2008 season, and of getting the storied No. 43 car once driven by Richard back to Victory Lane along with the No. 45 Dodge driven most of the time last season by Kyle Petty.

Although the organization has won more races than any other in the history of the Cup Series -- a total of 268 and 10 championships -- it has not had a car win a race since 1999. Kyle Petty said Monday that he now believes Boston Ventures wasn't really up to speed on what it was getting into when it came on board.

"I kind of think it's like when you were a kid, and I think their eyes overloaded their stomach. I think they put more on the plate than what they could eat, to be honest with you," he said.

"It was a different business and it got into a different place than where Boston Ventures wanted to be -- and I just don't think they have the stomach for it. It's their company and they can do with it what they want to. That's the way it works."

When Boston Ventures came on board, Richard Petty said he would still be heavily involved in the day-to-day operation of Petty Enterprises. But Kyle Petty made it sound as if those from the investment company are pulling most of the strings for the organization now. (Continued)