Petty speaks out on changes to race team

DAYTONA BEACH

Richard Petty may still reign as NASCAR’s King, but with Jimmie Johnson wresting control of Petty’s old race team, he is definitively not the boss.

The Hall of Famer essentially has been stripped of power inside his former eponymous team that rapidly rebranded and rebuilt since November.

Johnson and Petty are the only living seven-time NASCAR champions — and that appears to be where the similarities end inside Legacy Motor Club’s front office.

The 85-year-old Petty, who is officially Legacy’s ambassador, said Saturday he has bruised feelings and little say in the direction of the race team since Johnson bought into the ownership group.

“It’s been strange to me,” Petty said. “Most of the time, I ran the majority of the show. Jimmie brought all his people in. His way of running things and my way of running things are probably a little bit different. We probably agree on about 50% of what it really comes down to.”

Ahead of the Daytona 500, an unfiltered Petty said he was irked by Johnson’s rise in power.

“Yes, it does” bother him, he said.

But Petty conceded it was “probably time for a change” because through several incarnations of his race team — the latest Petty GMS — his cars had never risen above the middle of the pack.

GMS founder Maury Gallagher, chairman of Allegiant Air, purchased Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021 and Petty, whose 200 Cup wins as a driver are a record, served as the front man.

Johnson told The Associated Press he was “disappointed” that Petty publicly expressed his displeasure, adding: “Of course, we’ll have conversations.”

“He’s not expressed them to me, for starters,” Johnson said.

One of Johnson’s first decisions: Strip the Petty name that dates in NASCAR to 1949.