Kyle Petty took another big step towards racing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and a possible full season in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Sunday, testing the #45 Orbit Racing InterMedia BMW Riley at the rechristened Palm Beach International Raceway. Petty, who tested with the team at Daytona during Pirelli tire testing in October, ran more than 50 laps as he continues to make the adjustment from racing a Sprint Cup Series stock car and the Grand-Am Daytona Prototype. “Braking has been hard for me,” Petty said. “Darren tried teaching me at Daytona until I ran until I ran into the tire wall. That was pretty exciting. When I ran a few laps here I told him, first I’m not brave enough, then I get stupid, so I have to back it up and figure out where I need to be, somewhere between “stupid’ and “not brave enough.’ Learning the braking is hard.” The car was not damaged when Petty slid into an infield tire barrier during his October test session. Now, Petty is working on the final details for a move to Grand-Am. “We’re still working on it, and we’re closer to getting something together,” Petty said. “Hopefully, we’ll have something together before long that will give me a job for next year and we can win some races. I’m here at Orbit because of Rodger Hawley, let’s be clear about that. I ran a car with Orbit and Leo Hindery two or three times at Daytona. We didn’t have the greatest success in the world but we had a lot of fun. I told Rodger back then that if it ever comes to the point when I don’t have a Cup ride and I can go and do something different, I want to come here. I think this is the top road racing series in the United States, so I’m stepping from the top stock car series to the top road racing series, the Grand-Am. I’m looking at it as a lateral move to another series where there’s a ton of great drivers.”(Grand-Am.com)(11-25-2008)
