Why did two Petty Enterprises cars [#43 and #44] miss the Pepsi 400 at Daytona? What went wrong? Simple, Kyle Petty said. The engines weren’t up to snuff. “It’s the way things go, especially at a restrictor-plate race,” Petty said. “Somewhere, we’ve gotten behind on our engines, and we just ain’t caught up. It’s been showing everywhere we’ve been, but it really showed up here. Mike’s engines have been really, really good, but these are the same cars that we ran here before. We lost ground this time. You can’t say it’s got a lot to do with the cars. I’ve got to put all this on our engine department.” Petty Enterprises engines are built by Mike Ege Racing Engines, a company started before the 2002 season to exclusive construct engines for the Pettys. Ege came from Robert Yates Racing, long known as one of the best engine-building companies in NASCAR. But Ege hasn’t gained any horsepower on restrictor-plate engines. That doesn’t sound too bad, but when you consider everyone else is gaining a few horsepower, the Pettys slide backwards.( NASCAR.com )(7-4-2003) UPDATE: After two of the team’s three cars failed to qualify for the Pepsi 400, car owner and driver Kyle Petty was seen holding engine builder Mike Ege against the chain-linked fence in the garage area. Petty said Ege will continue to build engines for the team and that the two had a confrontation after time trials.( Florida Times Union )(7-5-2003)
