Richard Petty’s grandson set for ARCA debut

By Tom Jensen
Published

Richard Petty’s 16-year-old grandson will make his first ARCA start this weekend.

Thad Moffitt is scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Music City 200 presented by Azure Foundation at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

Moffitt tested at Nashville last week with Empire Racing Group, a development team of Richard Petty Motorsports.

https://twitter.com/ThadMoffitt/status/847266410074062849

https://twitter.com/ThadMoffitt/status/849325132984328197

"I learned a lot in a few hours," said Moffitt. "I need a little more speed. I know we have it … it's just a matter of getting fully comfortable in the car. I realize now that I should have done a couple things differently, but it's all part of the learning process."

Moffitt said Petty is encouraging him to figure out things for himself as much as he.

"He'll (Richard Petty) give me advice if I ask, but he wants me to learn on my own, just like Adam (Petty) and Uncle Kyle (Petty) did,” Moffitt said. “We all have different driving styles so advice for one won't always work for the other.”

Moffitt won the Southeast Limited Late Model Series championship in 2016, winning a main event at Anderson Motor Speedway in South Carolina.