Richard Petty and family to deliver command for Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race
Richard Petty and his family will be at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday to be grand marshals for the race. On social media, the race track announced that Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Ritchie Petty, Timmy Petty and Mark Petty will deliver command for the second Cup Series race at Daytona this season.
Kyle Petty is the son of Richard, and Ritchie, Timmy and Mark are Richard’s nephews. Ritchie, Timmy and Mark are the sons of Maurice Petty, a former NASCAR crew chief who died in 2020. Richard and Maurice are the sons of Lee Petty, one of NASCAR’s first superstars.
The Petty family is the first family in NASCAR as both have been around for over 75 years. NASCAR celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, and the Petty family is celebrating 75 years of racing this year.
“My father is a walking encyclopedia of NASCAR,” Kyle Petty said in December. “He was there with my grandfather, grandmother and uncle Maurice at the first NASCAR race in Charlotte in 1949 and our family has been going ever since. There isn’t anything our family hasn’t seen in NASCAR.”
Richard Petty celebrates ‘incredible milestone’ for his family
“75 years in the sport is an incredible milestone for our family, especially when it all began as a family business,” Richard Petty said. “Spending 2024, celebrating the success and contributions to the sport of racing that started with my mom and dad, then my brother Maurice, cousin Dale Inman, then to Kyle, Timmy, Ritchie, Mark, onto Adam and now Thad. We are all looking forward to sharing these stories with the fans.”
Ritchie Petty added: “It’s special because it took the whole family to make it all work with such a huge amount of success. “Nobody in the family was more important than any other and from my grandfather to my dad and all my cousins, we felt involved in the success and the growth of the Petty family and NASCAR.”
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 will start on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. It’s the second to last race of the regular season before the playoffs begin on Sept. 8. Earlier this year, the drivers took part in the Daytona 500 and William Bryon won the iconic race.
