Petty Enterprises CEO Kyle Petty announced yesterday a
"vast restructuring" of Petty Enterprises, which will
include a third Winston Cup team and himself moving from the
No. 44 car to the No. 45 Dodge Intrepid next season,
according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Kyle's
son Adam, who was killed during a BGN practice at NH Int'l
Speedway in May, was slated to drive the No. 45 Dodge next
season in Winston Cup racing. While Petty still plans to
run the No. 44 car next season, the team will need to find a
new driver and sponsor to replace Hot Wheels (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 7/19). USA TODAY's Skip Wood reports that
"because of Kyle's decision to switch to Adam's car," Hot
Wheels "no longer will be the primary sponsor" of the No. 44
car, but will become an associate sponsor of all three of
Petty Enterprises' Winston Cup teams. But Kyle said the No.
44 car will not compete if a new primary sponsor is not
found (USA TODAY, 7/19). Kyle Petty: "We sat down with [No.
45 car sponsor] Sprint, we sat down with Hot Wheels, and we
laid out a program wherein I can drive the 45 car.
Something I wanted to do was to be able to drive Adam's car.
... Steve Grissom's going to drive the Hot Wheels car for
the remainder of this year, and then, in 2001, we're looking
for a sponsor for the Hot Wheels car" ("RPM 2Night," 7/18).
