Richard Petty, the legendary driver with a record 200 Cup Series wins, 7 season championships, and a spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s inaugural class of 2010, is widely regarded as the greatest in stock car racing history. As he approaches his 87th birthday, we’ve seen him celebrate 75 years of NASCAR participation with his famous family during the Chicago weekend. But amidst these celebrations, there’s some unfortunate news for a member of the Petty family.

Richard Petty’s grandson, Thad Moffitt – the son of his youngest daughter Rebecca – has reportedly parted ways with Faction46 Motorsports after agreeing to run a full season in the No. 46 truck in 2024. The speculations regarding a split between Moffitt and the team began growing when Young’s Motorsports fielded the No. 46 truck with the driver at Pocono.

According to a report by Bob Pockrass, the team would only commit to running this truck for Richard Petty’s grandson. However, there was no clarity or confirmation if it would be on a part-time or a full-time schedule. But, with recent updates, it seems like the official announcement regarding a split between Faction46 and the 23-year-old driver is all but obligatory.

Confirmation of his departure from the Faction46 team

It’s half-season so far, and Richard Petty’s grandson still finds himself at the bottom of the Truck standings with 3 DNFs. Having driven for Faction46 until the Toyota 200, he sat out the race at the Nashville Superspeedway. Now, Moffitt’s LinkedIn profile clearly states that the young driver has moved on from his role as a full-time driver for Faction46. July 2024 was mentioned as the date when he cut his ties with them and decided to join Young’s Motorsports.

While the team did not confirm the split with an official announcement, Richard Petty’s grandson shared his future plans via his X account before the Nashville race. “I’m excited to announce I’ll be back behind the wheel of the 46 truck this weekend at Pocono and the remainder of the 2024 season with Young’s Motorsports. I look forward to what the future holds as I continue to work hard to sharpen my skills for future.”

Faction46, an alliance between Niece Motorsports and Lane Moore, owner of Venture Food Stores, made its Truck debut at Daytona earlier this year, with Customers Bank as the sponsor of the No. 46 Chevrolet truck that the team took from G2G Racing. Moffitt came with 4 Truck Series starts on his resume, all in the 2022 season, beginning with 3 for the Reaume Brothers.

“This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for,” Moffitt said after his full-time announcement. “I’m thrilled that Lane has put his trust in me to begin this new venture with him in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Faction46. I always wanted to have the opportunity to race full-time in NASCAR and begin in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. I’m pretty pumped up about this opportunity.” While it wasn’t a great start at Daytona, where Thad Moffitt ranked 31st in practice, he made a big jump in qualifying.

Moffitt made the second round of qualifying with the 9th-best lap in Round 1 and started 10th with a speed of 176.398mph (51.021 seconds). Even after starting toward the front, he finished 36th due to a fire underneath his No. 46 truck’s engine. With a series of underwhelming performances in his 12 starts for the team, the project seems to have gone south. Faction46 has lost its driver and truck and is now assessing its options to complete its season on a high level with a new face.

That said, Faction46 did field their No. 46 truck in Nashville with Dawson Cram, but they didn’t turn up at the Tricky Triangle. This is certainly not how Moffitt wanted his rookie year to unfold, but after parting ways with Faction46, it looks like he’s up for new opportunities. But what exactly led to the shocking departure of the team from the NASCAR scene, which left the driver stranded?

Faction46 Motorsports wanted better results on the racetrack

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Although competing in their very first national series season, Faction46 was ambitious in meeting their objectives and goals. However, Thad Moffitt had a hard time settling into his new role as a full-time driver with a relatively new racing organization. In the 12 starts the driver made for the team, he only managed a single top-20 finish, which came at Darlington (P18).

Statistically, the picture looked more grim. The young driver has an average start and finish of 28.692 and 28.231 in the races so far, including 3 DNFs. Therefore, the team acted quickly and decided to make the changes, as it always looked for good results.

Speaking of their end goal on Eric Estepp’s Out of the Groove podcast earlier this year, Lane Moore mentioned, “We are thrilled to unveil our new NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team and look forward to hitting the track running hard. The passion and dedication of our team, combined with the support of our fans and partners, position us for success on and off the track in year one.”

Now, Moffitt’s replacement, Cram, finished the Nashville race in P20, which was their second-best result this season. On the other hand, Thad Moffitt could only muster up a P29 finish at Pocono Raceway with Young’s Motorsports. Additionally, Fan Controlled Car and Lucky Dog on Track-sponsored Xfinity car driver Mason Massey already serves as a full-time driver for Young’s Motorsports, driving the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado truck.

However, it will be interesting to see whether or not Richard Petty’s grandson continues his full rookie season schedule or will only run limited races until the end of 2024.