re: 2023 NASCAR Season Thread - 2023-24 Offseason

I'd like to hear him and/or Kelley on the radio.

Allgaier is like “teammates be damned”.

I get it from his perspective, he's come so close at Daytona and hasn't won so he wants to do whatever it takes to finally win but you don't wanna sacrifice your teammates and alienate them and your owner (s) in the process.

Austin Hill wins.

He's a big boy.

He won by the length of his hood.

Looks like Petty isn’t too happy with the whole Jimmie Johnson/Legacy Motor Club thing

Richard Petty bothered by downsizing of role at team since Jimmie Johnson’s arrival

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Richard Petty concedes he’s been miffed at the downsizing of his role at the Cup team that bore his name before Jimmie Johnson became a minority owner last year.

Petty GMS Racing was renamed Legacy Motor Club for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, and “The King” has no ownership stake in the organization that includes the No. 43 he made famous.

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The seven-time Cup series champion remains in a “chief ambassador” role with Legacy Motor Club, but Petty, 85, explained (during a media availability Saturday morning at Daytona International Speedway) that Johnson and his management team are in charge of all major decisions.

“Yes, it does,” Petty replied with a laugh when asked if that bothered him. “Because I’ve done things my way, which hasn’t been too good lately, but as time progresses, things change in the world. Then it probably was time for a change.

“Jimmie’s looking not necessarily at what’s going to happen this year, but he’s trying to lay a foundation for four or five years where he’s still young enough that he’s going to be around for a long, long time.”

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Petty said the team structure has been “kind of confusing from my standpoint” since Petty GMS was restructured into Legacy Motor Club.

“Wherever we went, I had my own little crowd that pretty much ran the show,” Petty said. “When we got with GMS, we had to blend with them. When Jimmie comes in, his crowd doesn’t take over the racing part, they take over the front office with sponsorships, appearances, and all that stuff. Jimmie’s crowd is controlling that.

“That’s something I’ve never had to put up with, I guess. I still do my own thing. But then I do a lot for our new team.”

Petty said his new role has “been strange to me” in part because he and Johnson agree on the team’s direction only “about 50 percent” of the time — and “The King” still is adjusting to no longer having the final say.

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“Jimmie’s very observant. Jimmie controls everything, basically. You’re making postcards and stuff, he has to approve it. He approves everything. He’s a pretty busy man right now.”

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Richard is and always will be the King, but the guy is going on 86 years old, and what he said about Johnson right here:

“Jimmie’s looking not necessarily at what’s going to happen this year, but he’s trying to lay a foundation for four or five years where he’s still young enough that he’s going to be around for a long, long time.”

… pretty much shows why a going on 86-year-old man whose “way of doing things” had pretty much run its course in the mid-1980s, let alone the crazy world of modern NASCAR, ain’t gonna be given a lot of serious say-so in this deal.

Richard just needs to let go and be The King. God knows we need him around as a reminder of what once was.

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oh well

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I take the article like Richard is saying the same thing.

Seems like he saying it’s a big adjustment for him rather than a complaint.

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Travis Pastrana seems like a likable guy.

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Absolutely does. Just read an article about veterans not wanting to race with the rookies and he takes it in stride. Knows he has to earn their trust.