Are the Pettys Back? Signs point to a better future for NASCAR's oldest team.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE

It was the end of a long weekend and almost nothing had gone right. But being the pro he is, Paul Andrews smiled and spoke glowingly about the upturn at Petty Enterprises. His sparkling clean white T-shirt said it all: "Petty Enterprises. A New Attitude.''

"It didn't show today, but the pieces are in place to move forward,'' said Andrews, crew chief for Kyle Petty's No. 45 Dodge. "We've already seen tremendous progress this year for both teams. Can we win next week? We need to be top-15 and top-10 before we talk about winning. But things are looking up with these new people.''

In this case, "new'' is spot-on. Vice president of racing Robbie Loomis brings six years of experience and the 2001 Cup title with Jeff Gordon from Hendrick Motorsports. Driver Bobby Labonte brings 11 years of experience and his own 2000 Cup from Joe Gibbs Racing. And Labonte crew chief Todd Parrott brings 11 years of experience and the 1999 Cup with Dale Jarrett from Robert Yates Racing. No wonder Petty says, "The Pettys have always known how to cut trees... These new guys know how to turn trees into a finished product.''

NASCAR's oldest organization has struggled for 20 years. Its only wins since Richard Petty's memorable 200th at Daytona Beach in 1984 were delivered by Bobby Hamilton and John Andretti in the late 1990s. Before Labonte's recent fifth-place at Bristol, its last top-five was Andretti's runner-up at Bristol in 2001. In fact, Petty and Andretti combined for more top-10s in 1999 alone than the company's 11 drivers amassed this decade.

Series watchers think they know why. Being 80 miles from Charlotte makes it harder to attract enough quality people. The Pettys are fiscally tight, a lesson Richard well learned from his father, the late Lee Petty. The company switched from Chrysler to GM in the late 1970s, then to Dodge in 2000. It gradually fell behind the technology curve and hasn't caught up. And the family was devastated when Adam Petty, Kyle's teenage son and the company's hope for the future, died in a Busch Series ...