The 43 will NOT race at Martinsville this weekend

Instead, a Petty 41 will again hit the track. In recognition of Maurice Petty's selection to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Richard Petty Motorsports will change the 43 for 1 race only to 41 - a number used a few times by Chief during his limited driving career. As a Petty lifer, I think this is incredibly cool. For all the wondering and whispering about the relationship between the brothers, I'm truly glad this is about to happen.

The number is reminiscent of the number Chief drove at tracks like Bristol in 1962.

And his son Ritchie raced the number in late models for a while as well. (from Thomas K. Craig's collection)

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/06/17 12:31:44PM

This is an awesome tribute to "The Chief".

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

Pretty cool - I got to see Chief run #41 at my first ever NASCAR race on march 14, 1964 at Richmond.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

That's fantastic! I appreciate that it's all the right color too and not one of those green, yellow and purple messes. How long has it been a Petty car qualified and it wasn't #43? Gotta be fifty years. I know Richard missed a few races before they added the Champions Provisional but I don't recall if Kyle was with PE at that time and if he made the race. And of course there was no #43 through most of 1965 but there were no other Petty cars either.It's about time that they re-numbered Marcus Ambrose's car to #40. I don't even remember which team the #9 came from, but that's mostly because I'm old and forget a lot of things.Here's hoping that we see #41 in the winner's circle this weekend. It's been a long time.

From what I can tell, last Cup race without a Petty 43 was October 27, 2003 at Atlanta when Jeff Green DNQ'd. Kyle made the show in that one in #45.

I get what you are asking re: how far back the 43 and RP goes. But a bit of trick trivia regarding last time Richard raced in something other than #43. Wasn't as far back as you might think.

1986 World 600 - wrecked 43 in practice, raced D.K. Ulrich's #6 Chevy.

1981 Winston Western 500 at Riverside - Richard and Kyle swapped car numbers. The hope was Richard would win in 42 and get that team on the winner's circle for bonus money. France Jr. wasn't amused. Richard and Kyle swapped back, and Richard then won the next race - the Daytona 500.

From: Scott Baker at bakerracingpix.com

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

And I agree with you about Ambrose's car. The 9 originated with Evernham when he hired Bill Elliott with Dodge's comeback. Ray kept it when Bill left and Kasey Kahne came aboard. The number remained through the merger with George Gillett. And then when Petty Enterprises sold out to Gillett in that abysmal transaction to form Richard Petty Motorsports version 1.0, the 9 was retained with Kahne as driver. But now Bill, Ray, Kasey, the 2 knuckleheaded Gilletts, Dodge and Budweiser are all gone. I wish the 9 was also.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

I knew that Richard had been in different numbers and also about the Ulrich #6, but I didn't remember Kyle and Richard swapping numbers. I was an intermittent race follower during the Eighties because TV coverage wasn't great.

Yeah, you answered my question. I'd forgotten about Kyle going back to run Petty Enterprises, so I didn't realize it was that recent when he made the race and the #43 didn't. I was thinking of the days when Richard was still running and Kyle hadn't gone to Sabates.

If Bill Jr. were still running the show, this weekend's Martinsville race would be one of those days when he'd turn a blind eye one of Maurice's "extra-potent" engines. I don't think he ever gave anyone "the call", but he was a master promoter and knew how to use the tools at hand in an effort to get the greatest amount of positive press. There's not a person who doesn't want to see a blue Petty car in victory lane again.

I was at that Riverside race, but didn't remember the number swap.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Chase... you could build a good trivia question around the fact that there were TWO Winston Western 500s at Riverside in 1981... January and November!

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Richard in the #41 in 1964 as posted by RR member, Thomas Craig on this site. Thomas lists the track as Harris, but the results don't show the #72 Plymouth of Doug Yates being at Harris. He is shown in the field at New Oxford, Pa. when Richard drove #41 in 1964. Never having been to Harris or New Oxford, I don't know what either looked like.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

In the words of Ed McMahon to Carnac The Magnificent: You. Are Correct. Sir.

January 1981: Last race with the larger 1970s era cars before changing over to the 110 inch wheelbase cars. However, Dale Earnhardt and Osterland Racing went ahead and raced the new car, a Wrangler Pontiac Grand Prix.

November 1981: The whole field was running the "new car" - sounds funny typing that today in an era of COT, Gen6, or whatever we have now. Riverside picked up the 3rd race when it was learned Ontario would no longer be able to host its season-closing race as it had since the mid 70s.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.