TNT’s Kyle Petty raced Sunday in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 even as he served an on-air analyst. When he got in an accident on the first lap that also involved Matt Kenseth and Marc Goossens, viewers saw a replay in which the driver/analyst seemed to yell out an expletive although TNT, during the race, said it wasn’t sure it came from Petty rather than from mikes in other drivers’ cars. But Petty wants it clear it was his profanity: “I’m sorry it got as far as everyone’s living room. But when an incident happens that early in the race and it’s unexpected, what I said pretty much described it.”(USA Today)(6-29-2007) UPDATE: #45-Kyle Petty will not face any sanctions from NASCAR for uttering the f-word on television last week during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Petty, who was serving as an in-car commentator for TNT Sports as well as driver last week, uttered the expletive during the opening laps of the race when a crash occurred right in front of him. Inexplicably, TNT aired the comment not live, but on replay, after coming back from commercial. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Friday that due to a number of mitigating factors, NASCAR won’t fine Petty points and/or money as the sanctioning body did to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2004 after he uttered an obscenity in victory lane. Poston said the mitigating factors included that Petty wasn’t aware he was on TV at the time, that the clip wasn’t live but shown and replay, and the fact that the FCC recently loosened its own regulations regarding on-air obscenities.(SPEEDtv.com)(6-30-2007)
