Kyle Petty applauds Dodge for sticking with charity ride

Kyle Petty, who will start the 29th running of his annual charity ride this week, shared his gratitude for the continued generosity of Dodge. The automobile brand will again support the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America with the Dodge Charger Pursuit as the pace car and the Dodge Durango Pursuit as its medical car.

The ride will kick off on May 3 and cover 1,400 miles from Traverse City, Michigan, to Hot Springs, Virginia, on May 9. Kyle and his father, NASCAR legend Richard Petty, will participate in the ride with over 220 riders, including former NASCAR drivers Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace and former NFL player Herschel Walker.

Kyle wrote about the renewed partnership with Dodge Law on X:

"Grateful for Dodge Law. They continue to be huge supporters of the [Kyle Petty Charity Ride]. Awesome to have the Dodge Charger Pursuit as our official pace car and the Dodge Durango Pursuit as our medical vehicle!"

Last year in May, the ride raised $1.8 million as riders traveled more than 2,100 miles through nine states. For the 25th anniversary, the riders traveled about 3,700 miles from Seattle to Key Largo, Florida.

The proceeds of the Charity Rice go to Victory Junction, a camp in North Carolina that Kyle founded in 2004 to honor his late son, Adam. The camp offers life-changing experiences to children with chronic illnesses.

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"These people drove four and a half hours" - Kyle Petty recalls the charity ride's impact

Richard Petty with his son Kyle Petty on the red carpet before the 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony - Source: Imagn

During a recent interview with the Star Gazette, Kyle Petty reflected on how the charity ride has changed over the years. He mentioned that they used to ride for up to 600 miles a day when the ride started in 1995.

"I was 34 when we started this thing. We just rode like banshees when we started 30 years ago. We’re a lot calmer now and we don’t ride as far as we used to. We’d ride 500, 600 mile days. We’ve backed her down to about 250- to 300-mile days," Kyle Petty said.

When asked about the ride's standout theme, Petty shared the story about a family of four with two kids that traveled for hours to meet former NASCAR Cup champion Terry Labonte.

"We were in New Mexico and we had ridden probably 70 or 80 miles down this two-lane road...We had seen a handful of cars, maybe two handfuls of cars. There was nobody out here...These people drove four and a half hours to get to this intersection in hopes they would see Terry when he rode by. They had no expectation and never dreamed he would stop and spend time with them," Petty added.

The charity ride has raised over $22 million and helped nearly 8,000 children with serious medical conditions over the past 28 years.