“I’m Gonna Miss Him” – Kyle Petty Gets Diplomatic as He Refuses to Pick Sides on Dale Jr’s NBC Walkout

Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s decision to leave NBC last month was one of the most talked about topics in NASCAR and it is still drawing a lot of attention. Eminent personalities have given their takes on the matter and the latest person to talk about it was NBC analyst and a good friend of Junior’s, Kyle Petty. Petty has been at the channel for a long time and, as someone who does not hold back, his words are often anticipated by the NASCAR community.

However, that was not the case this time around. The former Cup Series racer remained diplomatic as he revealed that he had phoned to congratulate his friend after the news that Junior was reportedly headed to Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Kyle Petty recalls the countless memories he had at NBC with his friend

Petty revealed his thoughts about Dale Earnhardt Jr leaving NBC in a recent interview with Bryan Nolen of Frontstretch. There was no judgment on the former Cup Series driver’s parting as he acknowledged that he was not well equipped with the facts that led to this situation. However, he only had kind words for his friend.

“Now that he is doing TV, he wants to do it to the best he can and to a level that he feels like he’s making an impact and I believe that what he’s done by this move, he feels like it’s a better move and who am I to question that? He knows all the facts, I don’t know anything,” he said.

In their time working together, Junior had become good friends with Richard Petty‘s kid and the two along with Dale Jarrett have shared countless memories on and off the job. That’s one part of the day the 63-year-old is going to miss and he admitted that going to work would not be the same with that absence.

“I’m gonna miss him. I’ll miss sitting in the bus with him and watching races and watching highlights and doing stuff with him and Dale Jarrett…all of us making fun of people that we shouldn’t be making fun of but that’s okay. It was just fun, he’s a fun guy to hang out with so I’m gonna miss that part. But man as soon as I heard, I called and congratulated him and I think it’s gonna be different being with NBC,” he added.

The official announcement came as a shock to several race fans and rumors were doing the rounds that all was not well between the former Cup Series driver and the media giant. However, it didn’t take long for Junior to shut them down.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr shoots down rumors of a scolding

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As per reports, NBC and Junior had several clashes, one of the reasons being the 49-year-old not looking at the TV monitors to call a race and looking out of the window to see the action in real-time instead. This was not appreciated by NBC and earned him a reported scolding from the producers. But none of it turned out to be true and fans got that clarification straight from Junior’s mouth, or his social media account rather.

“This is all untrue. NBC is not considering a remote booth and I was never scolded for anything. NBC was amazing and everyone there taught me a ton. I promise that’s the truth. Nothing but respect and love for everyone there that I came in contact with,” the 2-time Xfinity Series champion tweeted.

Regardless of what went down behind the scenes, Kyle Petty echoed the sentiments of thousands when he said that he would miss having Junior at NBC. The 49-year-old felt like a breath of fresh air and with his absence, the media giant might lose a lot of viewers for its NASCAR presentation.

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