Petty difficulties more than pulling Kyle for lone race (cont'd)

"We were all sitting there, in my office, and we're all together, just talking and trying to evaluate what we've got to do to get the car better," Loomis said. "However it's wrote or looked at, it's all about the improving of the 45 car. We're evaluating that thing from top to bottom.

"Kyle said, 'You know, when I'm in that car, I can't tell what you're doing or what's going on with everything. I want to be out and see the whole thing.'

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"So I think you've gotta realize, it's a really, really tough decision. I think the guy has been doing this a long, long time. There's not anybody in America that doesn't want to see Kyle Petty return to success or win. And I think for myself, I remember I was sitting there and I got a numb feeling when they said, you know, we're going to try something different. Part of the big reason I came back here [after leaving and working for Hendrick Motorsports for several years] was to help get the 43 [Bobby Labonte] and help get the 45, and especially Kyle, because I've been so close to that family for a long time, back to Victory Lane. I'm looking at it as a step of evaluating kind of where we're at, no different, probably, than what they did over here with [A.J.] Allmendinger."

As he made that last remark, Loomis gestured to the nearby hauler of the No. 84 Toyota fielded by Red Bull Racing, which recently replaced A.J. Allmendinger as the driver with veteran Mike Skinner, supposedly on a temporary basis.

Here's the rub: Kyle Petty isn't A.J. Allmendinger, and Red Bull Racing isn't Petty Enterprises.

Kyle and Loomis kept saying that they couldn't figure out why the decision to pull Petty from the No. 45 car was such big news to everyone. Well, that's why. The Petty name still carries weight in NASCAR, and folks are wondering what the future holds for this storied but obviously struggling organization.

And now they are beginning to wonder if everyone is on the same page there.

The King and the kid
In time, even The King -- Kyle's legendary father Richard, who doubles as owner at Petty Enterprises -- weighed in on the matter. He admitted that it was difficult to agree to replace his own son in the driver's seat.

"It's kind of tough. But we had a meeting of the minds -- I'll put it that way -- and that's what happened," Richard Petty said.

Told that Kyle didn't seem to be too thrilled about it, Richard rubbed his chin in thought before replying: "Well, I don't guess I would be, either. I wasn't either when I retired [as a driver in 1992]. But I was the one who made the decision. I didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to do it. So that's sort of what we're doing now."

All parties concerned stressed that it is a one-week deal. Kyle said his name already is on the entry list to drive the No. 45 for next week's Cup race in Phoenix, although later in the year he already had been scheduled to sit out a total of seven more races (six to fulfill broadcasting duties on TNT, and one to attend his daughter's wedding).

All parties involved also denied suggestions that Friday's sometimes mysterious and conflicting comments point to a team in turmoil. Among the earlier ones by Kyle that raised a few eyebrows was his open admission that he never was behind the organization's decision to move from its 60-year home in Level Cross, N.C., to Mooresville, on the outskirts of Charlotte some 90 miles away.

"I think there was a time when we needed to move to Mooresville, or we needed to move to the Charlotte area. I think that time had passed," Kyle said. "So I was not 100 percent behind moving to Mooresville. I just thought that the workforce that we had in Level Cross, the people that we had to work for us in Level Cross -- the people that we had who lived in that area and were loyal to Petty Enterprises and were good workers -- they were just as good head-to-head as with any people in the industry.

"I felt like we had some issues that we should fix and could fix, whether we were in Level Cross or whether we were in Mooresville. We've not fixed those issues yet. We're not running any better in Mooresville than we ran in Level Cross."

If those comments did not make Kyle Petty's main point clear, another that Kyle made certainly did.

"I don't think I'm the problem, but I'm pretty arrogant on that side," he said. "I will say that. I don't think I'm a problem with anything. ... I think we have problems, but I don't think Kyle Petty's the problem."

When the best McCumbee could do in qualifying Friday was to reach a top speed of 183.736 mph, 42nd on the speed chart -- and Skinner, going immediately after him, posted a time of 188.390 mph, ninth on the grid -- it seemed Kyle was right.

The problems at Petty Enterprises run deep. And changing drivers for one race, or in this case in one failed attempt to make one race, is nothing more than a one-inch Band-Aid on a wound whose gaping size has not even yet been fully determined.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.