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Richard Petty Doubles Down on FOX Criticism, Calls Darlington A ‘Pit Crew Race’

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Alexandra Lange | Last updated Apr 8, 2025 8:20 PM ET

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty has been known to keep things honest.

Over the weekend, The King joined the Fox broadcast booth as part of the throwback weekend festivities and candidly shared his thoughts on the television coverage.

“It's been interesting watching y'all try to operate up here,” Petty said, drawing a laugh from the booth.

He continued to comment, “The big deal is when I'm sitting here and see what I see on TV and the race is really back about 15th or 20th. Them guys — they drive their fanny off every lap. I mean, they're really racing back there, but you know, if you're here you can see that. You can't see it on TV.”

On his weekly race recap on the Petty Family Racing YouTube channel, the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion doubled down on his criticism of the Fox broadcast.

“You watch on TV, then it’s hard for them to get off the front-runners to get back to where the race is,” he emphasized. “You have to go to the race track itself to see the racing.”

“It don’t show the real race on TV,” Petty added.

Later in the podcast, the three-time Darlington winner evaluated last weekend’s race alongside former Crew Chief Dale Inman.

“It was good for the 11 car,” The King said with a laugh.

“As far as just pure racing, it’s hard to say,” he noted. “There was a lot of racing going on in the back of the field, not at the front. It really was not a really good race.”

Petty concluded, “It wound up being a pit crew race more than it was a race on the rubber.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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