Kyle Petty announced this week thathe will return to the Rolex Sports Car Series in the Phoenix 250 at PhoenixInternational Raceway, April 10. Petty took the time out of his day onWednesday to talk to members of the media about his return to the RolexSport Car Series, as well as his other racing and charity ventures.

Petty will co-drive the Gunnar Racing No.45 Porsche GT3 RS in the GT classwith teammate Gunnar Jeannette. The Phoenix 250 can be seen live on SPEEDChannel at 9 p.m. ET on April 10 with a 6 p.m., local Phoenix start time.

Question: It's a rare off weekend from the NEXTEL CUP series, but you havealready gone on the record in stating that you are looking forward to racingin the Phoenix Rolex Sports Car Series round. It sounds like you enjoysports car racing quite a bit. What is the attraction?

KP: I just love road racing, that's how simple it is. From the time I was 18or 19 starting at Riverside with the NEXTEL CUP cars, I've just enjoyeddoing it. Since we only do two road races a year, I try to race in everyopportunity I get. I've been pretty blessed to run with Orbit Racing in theRolex 24 Hours at Daytona in the past, and at Watkins Glen since it was inconjunction with the NEXTEL CUP and in July in conjunction with NEXTEL CUP(at Daytona). I keep looking for something different on the off weekends. Wedo our charity ride across America on one of the off weekends. We only havethree. Motorcycles are on one of those weekends, so that takes one away.When the Easter thing came up, the Grand American cars were out there, so itgave me the opportunity to run a road course at a place I've never beenbefore. And to be hooked up with Gunnar Racing, he's a great kid and to beback with Jeannette Racing and that crowd, it was pretty special. I'mlooking forward to it.

Question: Gunnar is among the youngest drivers, if not the youngest at 21years old. He's already an accomplished driver. It's a good-looking car anda good-looking team. You did run in the Daytona Prototype category at theRolex 24 Hours at Daytona. At Phoenix you'll be running the GT car. Talkabout the Porsches. They seem like they are a lot of fun to drive.

KP: It's an incredible car. The Porsches and that class are incredible classand incredibly competitive. We stepped up and ran the Prototype, and I lovethe Prototype. That's the future of road racing as far as I'm concerned inthe country right now. It brings some close racing, incredibly close racing,to road racing. I think that's the one thing I love about NEXTEL CUP racing.It's door-to-door, nose-to-tail, lap after lap after lap. With thePrototypes last year for the first time, there were only four, it was prettygood racing. When you come down this year, there are 15-16 cars. I think itshows the health of the series. To be back in the GT car, it's a lot of fun.You never know who you are racing with. The guys run wide-open lap afterlap. I think they run harder than everybody else. We did pretty good lastyear at Watkins Glen, and I've run some classes there. To be back in theclass, and with this car, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Question: As Kyle just mentioned, he did finish second-place in class withGunnar Jeannette, and with another young driver named Paul Newman at WatkinsGlen last year in the GTS class. That was a good showing there, and you'vewon a race when you co-drove with John Andretti a couple of years ago.You've had seven career starts in the Rolex Sports Car Series and this willbe your eighth start at Phoenix. We had an action packed race down inHomestead. We're going to have the same amount of cars, or very close to itat Phoenix, with one less mile of racetrack. What are you going to bethinking when the green flag drops with  of your closest friends out there?

KP: With 40 plus cars running that kind of race, it's going to be like us atBristol. To tell you the truth, everybody is going to be on top of eachother all day long no matter what. I have to pay close attention to what'sgoing on. I think what the Rolex Series had down at Homestead, that wasclose to Bristol, I have to give you that. I think to drop that many carswith that many speeds on the racetrack with everyone wanting to win theirclass and win overall, I'm looking forward to it. You talked about Gunnarand myself and Paul running at The Glen last year. Gunnar was 20, I think,at the time, I was 43 and Paul was 79, we pretty much doubled each othersages, 20-40-80 almost. We've eliminated Paul for this race, he's not comingwith us and we'll miss him, but its still going to be 20-40.

Question: Did you have a knack for road racing when you started, or did youhave to work hard at it?

KP: I've worked hard at it. I still work hard on it. I'm not the mostproficient road racer by any means of the imagination. It challenges whatyou're doing. I grew up in a family that was used to oval track racing, butI always loved to watch sports car racing at the time, which was IMSA. Anytime I'd go to Daytona to test in December and January, there were alwayssports cars racing there. I'd go look at the Porsches and Nissans and thecars there from Europe running at that time. At that time, we only hadRiverside as a road course. Only running two races a year, I'm 43-years-old,I would have run only 60 or 70 road courses. It's fun. I've been to SkipBarber and tried to do as much road racing and learn as much stuff as Icould. I think it makes you look at how you drive a car different. It's alot different than NEXTEL CUP racing is, and what NASCAR is on oval trackracing. A lot of stuff that I've learned there, it's helped me on a lot ofthe short tracks. I can't say it's helped me a lot on the big tracks. It's achallenge coming to run against the best of the best.

Question: Are you optimistic about the NEXTEL CUP program coming around?

KP: Definitely. As far as our CUP stuff, this is a far better year forfinishes. We still had some horrendous luck, especially Jeff Green in theCheerios car.  It seems like every week he's been in the wrong place at thewrong time. Last year we stuck around 38th to 40th place finishes. This yearthings have been going good for us, somewhere between 15th and 20th. It'sbeen a lot better year for us. It's only been five races into the season.It's a long season. It doesn't leave a lot of time to enjoy myself. That'swhy I'm coming to Phoenix to run the Grand American race to take a littletime off and enjoy myself.

Question: Taking time off to run a road race, can you go into that. You aregoing back on the track during your time off.

KP: I think it's because I love driving race cars. I've always said this.I'm blessed to be able to make a living doing what I absolutely, positivelylove. I love to get in the car and go drive. I doesn't matter whether I'mracing NEXTEL, Busch, Truck or Grand American, for me, it is like being aprofessional golfer shooting a round of golf just to relax.  That's the wayI look at it. It's just another enjoyable race. It gives me an opportunityto spend three or four days and challenge myself physically and mentally ona totally different type of circuit with a totally different level ofdrivers who are the best of the best in the world. It gives me anopportunity to run and relax, and it hopefully makes a better race cardriver out of me.

Question: Have you been able to see the setup at PIR yet?

KP: I sure have not. To be totally honest in all the years I've run outthere, I've never paid attention to the infield. It was a place I neverwanted to be in a NEXTEL CUP car, in the road course running in the infield.To look at that place and to figure out where the road course is, and how itworks, it will be totally new to me. I think I'm going to have to talk tothe other drivers of the series. They help a lot. When I talk to the otherdrivers, who have been out there and seen the place, I can understand moreabout it, and maybe it will give me a heads up.

Question: You keep coming back to sports car racing. Have you consideredgiving ownership a thought, or are you having too much fun racing?

KP: I have definitely considered it. I would love to own a Grand Americancar and run in the Rolex Series. I would love to start a team. We've toyedwith the idea for 12-18 months, if I can get the NEXTEL stuff put togetherand get it stabilized, that's the next thing on our plate. I've talked to acouple of people to run a Prototype. To set it up so I can put in a guy likeGunnar or put a young guy in it to give them an opportunity to run for achampionship, and then come along myself as I step out of NEXTEL CUP racingand be able to run part time or run a few races. I've been a sports car fanmy entire career. I love road racing, I love sports car racing. It'ssomething I've always wanted to do, but never had the opportunity to do it.Now as one part of my career begins to change from driver into teamownership at Petty Enterprises, I would like to have a Grand American carand to start a team there. And then 15-20 years later, have a NEXTEL car anda Grand American car, and move on down from there and still be able to driveit every now and then.

Question: On your Phoenix car, it's the No. 45. That of course correspondsto Petty Enterprises, but that also corresponds to the number that AdamPetty carried. Any connection there?

KP: Oh yeah. The 45 is Adam's number. I've always said that. I was in athing yesterday and somebody asked me about it. If you look over the door onthe car that I run, I don't have my name on the car because the way I lookat it, when Adam had his accident, I got out of my car, the 44, and into the45. That was Adam's car; we left it exactly as it was. I told everyone thatyear I was a fill-in driver for Adam. That's the way I look at it right now.I'm still a fill-in driver for the 45 team. I'm just taking Adam's place fora few years. For me, anytime I see the No. 45, that's whose car it is. Adam,my middle-son Austin and myself, we went down to Skip Barber on a coupleoccasions and had more fun at New Hampshire, Lime Rock and places like thatrunning around road courses chasing each other. Those are fond memories. Soto be able to run the No. 45 in the GT division is special to me.

Question: You didn't have much time in that No. 79 Porsche Daytona Prototypein the Rolex 24 At Daytona because of the conditions. They only got worseand worse as time went on. Did you spend enough time in it to give adescription of the differences between the GT3, which is a car that you havebeen in before, and the Daytona Prototype?

KP: I was pleasantly surprised at the driveability from the powerperspective, handling perspective and from an aero perspective on how stableand good the Daytona Prototypes were. I think they are incredibly conduciveto close racing. When you go back to Miami, you see how close the race was.When you have a car that has power, and you have a car that you can drivewith the steering wheel, the brake and the accelerator, and you can makethings happen in the car, all the car has to do is maintain what it iscapable of doing. I was really impressed at how the Prototypes were. I thinkwhen you go to the GT3s, the power is not as great. The down force is there,and the driveability is there, it's more about pitching the cars through thecorners for me. I have a lot more fun because it's like hustling the carsthrough the corner as fast as you can, while the keeping the tires close tothe ground. The Prototype just stuck and it went wherever you wanted it togo. Even though there was a lot of water on the racetrack, and windshieldwipers and everything like that became an issue, I think the times you hadin practice, it's not just one step up. I don't think the Prototypes are onestep up from where the GT cars are; I think they are multiple steps up fromwhere the GT cars are. It's a handful to come out of one into another. It'sa totally different way of driving.

Question: Dodge's John Fernandez has told me he has a hot little Dodgeengine he wants to put in a Prototype. So I guess there's a good connectionfor you already.

KP: Fernandez and I have talked about road racing since we started thisprogram. He has his hands full with the NEXTEL Cup stuff to be completelyhonest with you. They ran some Vipers a couple years ago and did some roadracing. I think with the success that the Dodge program is doing now in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Bobby Hamilton -- we've struggled alittle bit, which is pretty much public knowledge -- but I think with Ray'steams and Penskes' teams, and how we've turned to corner a little bit thisyear. I think the Dodge program and NEXTEL CUP has begun to step up. From anownership standpoint, once something begins to stabilize, and you can seethe growth and potential, I think you can move on to something else. I thinkthat's what Fernandez and everyone at Dodge are looking at now to look foranother division and take Dodge to the top of the heap. The Grand Americandivision would be a great division, so don't think I haven't talked to himabout it on numerous occasions.

Question: As a point of clarification, you talked about racing at WatkinsGlen last year and in July at the Paul Revere race, what about this year?

KP: Right now I'm playing it race by race, you know what I mean? This thingin Phoenix just came up. I want to run Watkins Glen, and I want to run inthe Paul Revere, that's how simple that is, put my name in the paper andtell anyone that I will drive. I'll be there, and I'll jump into anythingthey've got. I love this division, and I love road racing. If I could getfour races in this year, it would be a good year for me.

Question: In road racing, there are a lot of differences to stock carracing, but the one that stands out is the fact that you are sharing a carand a setup. How is it to move from stock car racing in NASCAR to roadracing where you share the drivers seat and the set up as well?

KP: Surprisingly it's not very difficult at all. In NEXTEL CUP racing, carsare different. We start a race with a sticker set of tires, full of fuel andlet's just say 50 percent nose weight or 51 percent nose weight. By the timeyou run 50 laps, the tires are worn out and the nose has gone from 50percent to 54 percent. It's not sticking to anything; it's a totallydifferent car at the end of 50 laps than it is at the beginning of a run.You have to make compromises in your driving style lap after lap after lapto stay up with the car. I think that's the same thing you experience inroad racing jumping into a car that is designed for someone else. You've gotto compromise your style. No car is going to work perfect for Kyle Petty andthen work perfect for Gunnar Jeannette. He has to adjust his style a littlebit, and I adjust how I drive a little bit. Hopefully, the teams that runwell and win, capitalize on that adjustability and comes out with acombination that works for both drivers.

Question: When you talk about the attraction to sports car racing, are thereone or two things that jump out as the things you like best.

KP: I know this is going to sound incredibly simplistic, but it's theopportunity to turn right sometimes, you know what I mean? It's the shiftingand the braking, and out- braking someone, jumping out in a corner andtaking the line away from them and making them adjust. It's out-poweringthem coming out of a corner. I think there are so many different nuances todriving a sports car that you don't experience driving a CUP car. We driveas hard as we can lap after lap after lap. You go into the corners as hardas you can and jump back on the gas as quick you can. I think that's what itis. You try to get the car to do as much of the work as possible. If the carcan't do the work, then the driver in the CUP car can't make it up. I thinkdrivers in the Grand American division and road racing divisions can make upa little bit of time. They're not going to make up two seconds, and theycan't make up huge chunks of time, but I think you can brake a little laterand make up some time getting in the corner.  Maybe turn in a little bitearly or turn in a little bit later, whatever it may be. To take a car thatis maybe a little down in power and run a competitive race with it, it'sincredibly rewarding. I think you can do that in the Grand American divisionwhere you can't do it in the NEXTEL CUP stuff.

Question: Everyone has an opinion on the so-called field fillers. What areyour thoughts on that?

KP: I don't really look at it as a plus or a minus. I don't see a big issuewith it. I think with how the economy has gone over the last few years,obviously that has affected every business in the nation. I don't thinkthere is any difference if you're in retail, unless you're Wal-Mart since ithasn't affected Wal-Mart I guess, or everybody else as far as job layoffsand stuff like that. We're just in a business that takes a lot of dollars torun. What's happened is there are teams that have survived and there areteams that have not survived. The strong teams have, and the teams that havecome on financial hard times have had poor performances and some have notbeen able to survive. There are teams out there that have been able to fillthose places, whether it's an Andy Hillenburg or

Hermie's (Sadler) car, the 02, or whether it's Kirk Shelmerdine, it doesn'tmake any difference. Those guys have just as much right to be out there. Ifit's Kyle Petty or Richard Childress, everybody has to start somewhere. Ithink the thing is, that some places we go, the speed differential betweenwhat they can run and what the lead guy can run, is too great and it becomesa safety issue. When it becomes a safety issue, that's when you have to stepup. Whether that happens at Bristol, I think it happened a little atDarlington, but I don't think it was a factor at Atlanta or a factor atPhoenix, and I don't think we saw anything like that at Daytona. There aregoing to be cases where that stuff comes up. There's always been cases whereguys, Kyle Petty of Jeff Gordon it doesn't make any difference, crash in thefirst 10 laps and have to drive around all day with a torn up car. I'm justas much in the way as any field filler has ever been. So has Jeff Gordon inthe past, so has Dale Jr. and so have other people. So I think when you lookat it like that, I don't consider them field fillers. The way I look at it,they are NEXTEL CUP drivers. They come, they qualify, and they make therace. They have just as much a right as anyone. It should only be an issuewhen safety is an issue.

Question: Most of our readers are in the entry level of racing. What advicewould you give to these people to get to that spot?

KP: Of all the questions you get asked as a driver, that one is the mostasked. How did I go from step A to step B to step C? How do I eventually getto where I want to be? I don't think there is any clear path. Obviouslymyself and Dale Jr., guys like that, we had an in before we were ever born.We were close to the sport. My grandfather did it and his grandfather didit. My father did it and his father did it. When it came time to race, wehad the access to the facilities, the equipment and the people to be able tostep in to drive. You still had to be competitive and you got to win racesor you don't get to stay no matter what your last name is. That's part ofit. Then there's Rusty Wallace whose father had a business and raced on theside. The next thing you know Rusty and Kenny and all those guys are racing.Jeff Gordon whose step-father got him involved in kart and brought him alongand guided his career through different areas. I think when you look at it;it's all about being in the right place at the right time. It's all aboutmaking that commitment. When I say making that commitment, no one is goingto walk up and say hey do you want to drive my car today. You have to be outthere asking someone can I work on your car? Can I polish your car? Can Ihelp your car? Can I do anything for the car? We have guys that work in ourshop who have cars that run down at South Boston and places like that, theywork here during the week and work here during the day and on their ownstuff at night because they are chasing their dreams to be race car drivers.There are two or three guys here who are really, really good race cardrivers. They could do it if they get the right breaks. The thing is, youhave to absolutely, positively believe in yourself  100 percent and you haveto stay focused on what you want and do everything you can and talk toeveryone you can whether they got a dime or $10 million. It doesn't make anydifference. You have to try to convince them because no one can achieveanything on their own. It takes help and it also takes a lot of prayersbelieve me. If you keep chasing it and believe in it, you will find a way tomake it happen.

AS: Let's mention your charity ride. Talk about the dates.

KP: This year it's the first week in May. This year it is the Chick-Fil-AKyle Petty Charity Ride Across American. Chick-Fil-A has come on board tobecome a major sponsor for the next two or three years. We're really excitedabout that. We leave California one weekend and end up in North Carolina thenext weekend. It's a seven  to eight day trip. In the past we've raisedmoney for different children hospitals, From Mattel Children's MedicalCenter, to Children's Emergency in Kansas City to Speediatrics right therein Daytona Beach, to St. Jude's and places like that. So we've raised moneyfor a lot of different hospitals. In the future, the majority of the moneywe raise will go to the Victory Junction Camp. We became an official charityof NASCAR last year. We're excited about that. The ride is an exciting sevenor eight-day trip. We go from Palm Springs to Las Vegas, Flagstaff, down toRoswell. We're going down to see Area 51, we though that we would be prettyexciting for a change, to Oklahoma City, Branson, Missouri, Mississippi andthen to Atlanta to do some stuff with Coca-Cola and Chick-Fil-A, then toGeorgia-Pacific, we're having a big event there. Then were going to end atthe Camp this year. The Camp opens June 20th this year. We'll start seeingkids for the first time. The riders in this ride have been so instrumentalin getting this camp open, we wanted them to be some of the first people tocome in and see the camp. We're pretty excited about that.

Question: Daytona International Speedway announced a serious sum of money isgoing to be spent on renovations. They're going to put in a new tunnel inthe No. 1 turn. They're going to do a lot in the infield for you all in thegarages and for the fans as well. Going back to the days when you sat onorange crates, how much has this sport changed?

KP: We could have a six-hour conference call and not hit on everything.Somethings you hate to see change. Those garage areas at Daytona, you cansay whatever you want to. Richard Petty won seven races out of one garagestall. I can take you right too it and show you which one it was. You justhate to see stuff like that go away. That tunnel has always been the mostspecial place in the world. I never forget it. Every year, every February,you pop into the tunnel and then Daytona International Speedway opens up infront of you. Its like everything is possible, all dreams come true andanything can happen because it's a new year. Daytona has been, will bealways, the heart of what makes NEXTEL CUP racing, NEXTEL CUP racing andwhat makes NASCAR, NASCAR. Any change is going to be a plus, they're notgoing to change the place where you don't recognize it believe me. I applaudthem for stepping and up and doing something, because as far as I'mconcerned, it's one of the most perfect, if not the perfect, race track inthe world and it's the greatest place to go to.