'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Former driver Richard Petty isn't happy with what he saw on the track at Talladega on Sunday. The legendary NASCAR driver, popularly known as 'The King', recently shared his thoughts on the Cup race.
Most of Petty's criticism was directed at the fuel-saving strategies of many teams. The seven-time Cup champion even used a quote from his own driver Erik Jones, which summed up the event for him.
Speaking on his YouTube channel Petty Family Racing about fuel-saving at Talladega, the 86-year-old deemed it "terrible" from his standpoint.
"It's terrible. They just got in line and they just run. They're trying to do a little strategy on doing the brakes and stuff like that and they just run. At one time, they were running 50 seconds and then when some of them guys got in front, they were running 55 seconds," Petty said. [1:10]
"That's how much everybody slowed down, saving gas, doing the whole deal. So there was no racing. In fact, Erik came on one time and said, 'You know what, guys? I'm going to start waving at the grand stand because this is nothing but a parade.' Nobody really raced anybody," he added.
Petty claimed that the big deal about the whole thing was different drivers would lead the race and go unchallenged while leading. However, once they got down towards the end of the race, the NASCAR Hall of Famer said it became a game of being "pretty close on gas" after the last pit stop.
He also praised the strategy of Toyota, which would've gone completely to the plan if they all hadn't wrecked.
Richard Petty didn't think there was a lot of racing at Talladega
Speaking further about the racing in Talladega, Richard Petty extended his criticism of the race. While his driver Erik Jones labeled it a "parade," Petty claimed the drivers were racing each other not on the racetrack but "off the computer."
"Really, they're racing off the computer instead of really racing each other because everybody sits there and figures their strategy and two-thirds of the strategies are the same. It showed that yesterday that everybody sort of followed whoever was in front," he said. [4:22]
Richard Petty emphasized that at Talladega, there wasn't "a lot of racing" on the track. He wondered if cars running that close to each other led to the drivers finding it hard to race.
