Kyle Petty to sit out at Texas

This weekend Kyle Petty will have Chad McCumbee drive the #45 Petty Enterprises Dogdge while he sits out to evaluate the team's future. Not having him at Martinsville was torture for me. I missed seeing him and that 45 car on the track. He is NASCAR to me...the Petty name is a major icon of the sport. It's like racing without the cars...it just can't be! I saw Kyle at Cracker Barrel in Daytona the year after Kyle's son Adam died. I was sitting at my table talking to my family and recognized the lady standing in the aisle next to me. It was Pattie Petty. She was beautiful. I looked and there was Kyle, wearing his signature 45 hat, the one that Adam had always worn, closely examining his bill. I said hello to him, quietly, I didn't want to call undue attention to him. He shook my hand and said "Hi guys, how y'all doing?" I was mesmerized. There was something about him even while he was eating lunch. When I met his at a Winston Cup Preview he was incredibly nice but you could see the sadness in his eyes. It struck me in my soul that he had a profound sense of loss that he would never recover from. I lost my Mother and miss her more every day she's gone. To know that he lost his son, the one who was to carry on his legacy, the one Kyle said had more talent than he ever hoped to have, in the prime of his life...took a toll on him that I know still sits heavily on his heart and no doubt makes him ponder his future quite frequently. I'm at a loss to express how much this hurts me. I don't want to see the day that there is no longer a Petty in NASCAR. I miss the greats that have gone on and don't want to think about racing without Kyle. I know the expense is great, finding sponsorship a burden and not performing the way you want to has to be difficult. I don't know that there's an easy solution, but I hope that Kyle realizes that there are fans that love him simply because of who he is and can't imagine this sport without him. Kyle is a class act in a sport of hot heads and spoiled brats. I know that he had an altercation with my precious Denny and I'm not very happy with him for it. In fact, I was irate over it. Denny had every right to be mad about Kyle hitting him in the helmet. I'd have reacted the same way. I loved Denny's words for Kyle. But I also love Kyle. If these gentlemen can move past it then who am I to hold a grudge? I admire Kyle for his heart and determination and the fact he missed a few races because he hit a cabinet inside the team hauler and broke his hand proves to me we're not so different after all. Think long and hard Kyle...I will miss you desperately if you decide it's time to hang up the driver's suit!