Grandson Of Richard Petty To Run Nashville ARCA April 7

Thad Moffitt, the grandson of “The King” Richard Petty, is the first driver to file an entry for the next ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards event, the Music City 200 at Fairgrounds Nashville Speedway coming Saturday, April 7

The Trinity, N.C. fourth-generation driver made his ARCA Racing Series debut last year at Nashville, finishing 16th in the 32-car field. Moffitt made two other ARCA starts in 2017, finishing a career-best 11th at Lucas Oil Raceway. Moffitt also participated in ARCA’s open test at Daytona Int’l Speedway in January, 2018. 

Moffitt, the oldest son of Brian and Rebecca Moffitt, claimed the championship in the Southeast Limited Late Model Series in 2016. 

His famous grandfather Richard Petty is a 7-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion and is the all-time Cup leader with 200 career wins. He also won 123 poles and led 51,406 laps over his Cup career. 

“He’ll (Richard Petty) give me advice if I ask, but he wants me to learn on my own, just like Adam (Petty) and Uncle Kyle (Petty) did,” said Moffitt. “We all have different driving styles so advice for one won’t always work for the other.” 

The Petty tradition started with his great grandfather Lee Petty in the No. 42. Richard Petty carried the name on in the 43 with Kyle Petty following in the 44. Kyle’s son Adam wore the 45 before Moffitt would keep the tradition alive with the next number in line – the 46. 

Moffitt, 17, is entered at Nashville in the Empire Racing-prepared No. 46 Performance Plus Chevrolet. 

“Nashville’s an amazing track. It’s got multiple grooves. You could enter low and let it push up and bring it back down coming off. But once the tires got to 75 laps or so, you could pretty-much run the second groove all the way around. I love the banking in that track…the way it sucks you into the corner.” 

Track Enterprises PR