After Wanting Bubba Wallace “Suspended for the Rest of the Year,” Kyle Petty Faces Heavy Scrutiny for “Potential Unfulfilled” Remark

Last October, the Las Vegas incident where Bubba Wallace shoved Kyle Larson garnered a lot of criticism. With NASCAR seeing Wallace’s actions as a “dangerous act,” the 23XI Racing driver was suspended for the following week’s Homestead-Miami race. However, the governing body’s decision did not sit well with NBC Sports analyst Kyle Petty.

Viewing the governing body’s penalty as an inadequate punishment, During a broadcast, Kyle Petty said, “He should have been suspended for the rest of the year. Rest of the year.” And now, Petty has another “controversial” take on Ryan Blaney.

In a recent appearance on the NASCAR on NBC podcast, Petty was asked to share his big takeaways from the four races of the 2023 season. Explaining how he was worried about Team Penske, Petty said,

“I look at the Fords, I look at Penske and I look at Joey and Ryan Blaney and you know, for me, and I’m being honest man, Ryan Blaney is the new Kasey Kahne. Potential unfulfilled. You know what I mean? Everybody wants to talk about what he can do but he never does anything. For whatever reason, for whatever reason, he just never gets past that hump.”

This infuriated a lot of NASCAR fans. Upset by his comments on Blaney, some Twitter users pulled out Petty’s career stats and earlier comments to criticize his take on Blaney.

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While some Twitter users compared Petty’s career stats with those of Ryan Blaney, others outrightly denied the need for any comparison between the drivers. Instead, they simply defended Blaney’s performance over the years.

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Apart from Blaney, Petty also said that he was concerned about Team Penske driver Austin Cindric. Claiming that he brings a lot to the table, Petty shared his disappointment with Cindric “not shoeing up” since Daytona 500 last year.