July 8, 2021 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Petty brings unique gift to new project on The Circle Network

Kyle Petty knows how to set a stage.

For a commercial shoot with the driver at Richmond Raceway, he wasn’t content with just filming a standup outside his motor coach at the race track. Petty insisted on using his motorcycle as a prop to give the project color.

The third-generation racer has always been an entertainer at heart. Petty has a gift for enhancing what he touches—and his new show, Dinner Drive with Kyle Petty, is no different.

Last month, Petty held a private screening at the Grand Ole Opry to provide a glimpse of DDKP with his first guest, Dale Earnhardt Jr., followed by Darius Rucker and Davis Love III.

In the series, premiering Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Circle Network, Petty combines his love of people, cars, sports and music for his latest undertaking. He’s not afraid to tackle what makes celebrities tick, from their triumphs to their tragedies.

Whether he's breaking bread at a favorite pizza joint or taking a ride in a guest’s prized car, Petty covers everything, from the commonality that connects the subject to the audience to what has made each of them exceptional in their fields—and it is well work the watch.

While most race fans know him as a racer, son of seven-time champion Richard Petty, grandson of champion Lee Petty and more recently as an analyst for NBC Sports, Kyle is also a philanthropist and a musician.

Petty founded the Victory Junction Camp for children with serious illness in 2004 four years after he lost his son Adam in a racing accident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His life experiences make Petty uniquely qualified for his latest role.

“I did Hee Haw back in ’83-’84 and people have known me my whole life and never knew I was on the show Hee Haw, much less sang a song on there,” Petty said. “I’ve crossed paths with so many people in my life. I’ve been very fortunate that whether it was Darius or Dale or Davis, who has been on the motorcycle ride with us. Darius did a lot for us at the (Victory Junction) camp in the early years. Herschel (Walker) continues to go on the motorcycle ride every year. Ric Flair, I’ve know him forever.

“There’s so many goofy things—you know me—there’s so many goofy things that I’ve done in my life that I can look back on and say, ‘Yeah, hey, I can call that guy and he’ll take my phone call.’ So I’ve been very fortunate to call these guys up and they say, ‘Yes. Let’s do this.’”

Perhaps what distinguishes Dinner Drive with Kyle Petty is the simple fact that, over the course of his 61 years, he has encountered each of these personalities in his daily life prior to their appearance on the show. There’s an intimacy that exists between the interviewer and the subject at the core of the show, which enables Petty to reveal life-changing anecdotes.

“My dad will tell you, ‘There’s no telling what Kyle could have done if he would have just focused,’ and he says it in a joking way, but it’s probably true in a lot of ways,” Petty said. “And the older you get, you probably realize that. Even I realize that.

“But I have just enough of my mom in me that I don’t want to be that guy that’s 102, in the nursing home that says to anyone that will listen to him, ‘You know, I had the chance to be on the Grand Ole Opry once, but I didn’t do it. You know, I had a chance to jump out of an airplane once, but I didn’t do it. I had a chance to ride a bull for Eddie Gossage at Texas Motor Speedway one time, but I didn’t do it.’

“I’m going to be that guy that like, ‘Come into my room, I’ve got a story to tell you. Let me tell you this story.’ That’s just the way I’ve always been. I have been very fortunate and very blessed to live life, to do things. I’ve flown around the world on the Concorde. I’ve done crazy, neat stuff. It didn’t seem crazy at the time. Sometimes looking back on it, it seems kooky. But at least it’s on my bucket list or on my list to say, ‘I did this. I tried this. That’s kind of where I am in life most of the time.”

Petty lives life where many are just along for the ride. Two days after this interview, Petty had the honor of standing and performing in The Circle at the Grand Ole Opry. Cross that and the Ryman Auditorium off of his bucket list.

Note: Dinner Drive with Kyle Petty will also be available via streaming on Peacock.