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Friday, January 25

Petty, Andretti, Jones
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

Team: Petty Enterprises
Car/sponsor/make: Petty, No. 45 Sprint Dodge; Andretti, No. 43 Cheerios/STP Dodge; Jones, No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge

Kyle Petty
Petty

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top-5s
Best finish

2001 43 0 0 0 16th, twice

Career 8 8 45 1st, eight times

John Andretti
Andretti

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top-5s
Best finish

2001 31 0 0 1 2nd, Bristol

Career 2 4 13 1st, Twice

Buckshot Jones
Jones

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top-5s
Best finish

2001 41 0 0 0 16th, Talladega

Career 0 0 0 8th, Dover

2001 recap
The good: From an emotional standpoint, Kyle Petty's return to full-time competition after the tragic loss of his son Adam cut his 2000 campaign short, was an inspiration to fellow drivers and fans alike. Performance-wise, if there was one highlight for any of the drivers on the team, it was Buckshot Jones completing his first full season in Winston Cup competition -- even though he still wound up with a poor 41st-place finish.

Other than that, high points were few and far between at Petty Enterprises. Even with a new body and motor (Dodge) for all three cars, the team continued to struggle, seemingly without any direction. While other teams made tremendous strides with the first-year Intrepid, the Petty operation stumbled, fumbled and bumbled its way to an embarrassing season. This is a team that needs a great deal of help, direction, guidance � and most importantly, it's most rare commodity: plain old luck.

Season highlight: Petty's top showing was at Homestead, Fla., in November, where he started 43rd but managed to work his way through the pack to tie his season-best finish of 16th-place. Andretti's top performance was his runner-up showing at Bristol, Tenn., in spring, a track he historically does well at due to his short-track roots. Jones' top outing was at Talladega, Ala., where he handled the monster track by starting 29th and finishing 16th.

The bad: Anything that could go wrong seemingly did to the team's trio of drivers in 2001. Petty recorded the worst single-season finish of his career, and was able to start just 24 races. Andretti had his worst season since finishing 31st in 1996. And Jones just muddled along, never a threat in any races.

Andretti even considered leaving the team at the end of the season, but elected to remain loyal and hope that 2002 will be a turnaround year for both him and the team. Of course, he's been saying that for the last three years, and he's finished worse in each respective campaign (17th in 1999, 23rd in 2000 and 31st in 2001).

Season lowlight: The entire season was a lowlight for the team. Never at any point in the season could any of the team's three cars get on track and put together three or four respectable performances in a row. The entire season for all three drivers was a roller coaster ride, up one week, and down, it seemed, the next five or six weeks.

Kyle Petty
Can Petty climb back into contention for wins in 2002?

Key stat: The most telling statistic for the team was its start/finish average for each driver. Those numbers, more than any others, showed the lack of performance the team experienced in 2002. Andretti was the best of the bunch, with an average starting position of 22.5, and an average finish of 26.5. Petty, even though he finished a team-low 43rd in the standings, had an average starting position of 27.4, and an average finish of 31.1. Jones rounded out the group with the worst start/finish average -- an average starting spot of 31.6 and average finish of 32.9.

2002 outlook
What needs to be done: One key off-season development bring a great deal of promise for the upcoming season. The hiring of Robin Pemberton, who resigned due to burnout at the end of last season as crew chief for Rusty Wallace, as team vice president. Pemberton will take a tremendous load off Petty when it comes to administration and day-to-day operations. Pemberton will also have the opportunity to still get his hands dirty under the hood and will be an additional crew chief for all three teams. Plus, a new engine deal for 2002 could lead to an immediate performance jump right out of the gate at Daytona.

Prediction: Don't be surprised if this is the last year with the team for all three drivers. If he has yet another disappointing season, it's not inconceivable to think Petty may retire at the end of 2002, particularly if he continues to have problems qualifying for races. Andretti should have a boost upw in the standings, but his creditable loyalty may come to an end if a better opportunity comes his way. As for Jones, even with his family's close ties to primary sponsor Georgia Pacific, it's unlikely the deal will continue into 2003 if Jones does not show improvement. Likely finishes for all three drivers in 2002: Petty, 35th; Andretti, 23rd; Jones, 38th.

Your take
Will the Petty drivers be able to put a miserable 2001 campaign behind them to be competitive in 2002? Here are your thoughts.

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