“The track was good enough”: Richard Petty considers Iowa Speedway’s current condition appropriate for NASCAR racing

Several drivers had issues with their tires during practice at Iowa Speedway. Needless to say, it all came down to the partial revamp of the 0.875-mile short-track oval. However, Richard Petty thought that the racetrack held up quite well for its NASCAR Cup Series debut.

Today, the name Petty is synonymous with NASCAR. Richard Petty is a 7-time Cup Series champion and holds the current record for most wins (200), most pole wins (123), most wins in a single season (27), and most Daytona 500 wins (7). Often regarded as "The King", Petty is a NASCAR Hall of Famer, the team ambassador of Legacy Motor Club, and the owner of Petty's Garage.

In a recent episode of the Petty Race Recap, the NASCAR vet opined that the race at Iowa Speedway turned out great. When asked if NASCAR should have waited till the track was fully repaved, Petty said,

"No. The way it wound up, it made a really good race out of it because everybody had to run on the two-groove deals but the cars ran three abreast. I mean, the track was good enough, and they'd paved the track where the cars really need to stick...and they said they'd had a tire test out there (and) it was already paved."

Last month, Cup Series regulars Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Larson took a tire test at Iowa Speedway. Despite that, Bell blew off his right front tire and Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain cut his left rear tire during practice.

As a result, two red flags came out and stretched the practice sessions from 50 to 63 minutes. Other drivers who faced tire issues at Iowa were Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, and Tyler Reddick. Explaining why there were tire troubles at Iowa, Petty said,

"But when the car went back, they ran a second quicker than what the tire test was so that's one of the reasons why they had a little bit of tire problems to begin with."

Iowa Speedway follows in the footsteps of WWT in honoring Richard Petty

During the Cup Series race weekend at the World Wide Technology Raceway, the track officials unveiled a statue of Richard Petty's signature cowboy hat. It was a gesture to honor the 75 glorious years of the Petty family in the arena of NASCAR.

"With all the racetracks we’ve been through over the years, people still recognize the Petty family,” Richard Petty said. “It started in 1949 with my dad. A Petty deal, it’s not just a Richard Petty, it’s the Petty family. To be recognized and have something at all the tracks I used to run on, it makes the family very, very proud.

However, this time, Iowa Speedway honored Richard Petty by drawing the curtains off of another statue of the iconic hat. Petty himself posted a few pictures of him alongside the black and checkered hat and captioned it:

"It was a happening scene at The Kings Hat unveil this morning at @iowaspeedway! Be sure to swing by and take your photo with the hat."

With that said, Petty's tie with Iowa Speedway is not a recent one. The legendary racer served as the grand marshal for a NASCAR Camping World East/West Series race on May 17, 2009.