Kyle Petty on NASCAR's Superstar Problem, William Byron vs. Kyle Larson, and More! 

When they had less parity, people complained that it was too much about money and not enough about driving. I remember that well. I also remember quite a few folks complaining "Any given week, we know a handful of drivers are the only ones with a realistic shot at winning. I want to see more winners." I think there's a complaining addiction and the complaint shifts as needed.

Eric talks with KYLE FREAKING PETTY!?!? Must click

Kyle Larson is the only superstar here in Ireland, he's basically the only driver most have ever heard of

I’m glad you had KP on your show! One of my favorite personalities in the sport. Whether you like it or not he speaks his mind and doesn’t waver from it

Every year Kyle Petty says something that provokes a great conversation

this needs to be a recurring thing... no softball questions, no softball answers. NASCAR needs this.

Dude. Eric. Ive said this a handful of times on these milestone moments. You WILL have a job at Nascar one day if you want it. You are the future of the new wave and style of Nascar reporting. Always have been. And you continue to get the respect of Nascar names that others cant attract. And they all feel comfortable with you. Celebrate a little dude, and keep the pedal down!

My 2 favorite NASCAR commentators!

Great interview! Kyle is always unapologetically honest. Now we need Kyle to interview Eric Estepp!

Kyle's not wrong. Pretty darn spot-on. Thanks to Kyle for setting a great example to other drivers of how to give back.

I 100% agree with Kyle Petty about Tim Richmond.

And people thought he was crazy saying Byron was gonna be the best at Hendrick What a prediction

Its honestly just fate at this point. Nobody tries to compare Byron and Gordon but every time he wins there's just a sprinkle of Jeff mentioned.

Landing Kyle Petty as guest. You are getting it done Eric! You are becoming a reliable source and might I say a personality in our beloved sport of stock car racing. Keep up the good work Eric!

Facts:William Byron has most next gen car wins

It's always great to hear from Kyle Petty. Thank you, Eric.

Something I've like about Kyle Petty is that he is honest and will speak his mind - whether you want to hear it or not.

So far I've witnessed this man interview three generations of the Petty family. Awesome job Eric.

When it became dealership v. dealership, it got too chummy out there on the track, as long as one of your 17 teammates wins, cool, boss is happy, we're good. And O well, the show evolved into that but I still miss the days when teams put no more than two hot rods on the track, like the Petty Superbirds of King Richard and Pete Hamilton in 1970.

Let's mention Adam was on track to do awesome. Carry on Kyle and Richard. Nascar need's you.

I don't have a problem with parity, I have a problem with the lack of driver input. If every drvier drove the EXACT same car, but that car was difficult to handle and requires tire conservation, there will be a massive seperation in the field because the limiting factor in the car will be the driver. Currently the limiting factor is something outside of the driver's control, whether that be tire heat, aerodynamics, or other factors.

Kyle petty, speaks his mind,doesn't hold back,not scared to tell the truth, like his input😊

Is this your first time interviewing someone who works for nbc or fox? Kyle petty is a favorite of mine. This is a big deal and pretty cool eric way to go. Gotta say its really cool your interviewing one of my favorite personalities within nascar.

You went from DECS to interviewing Kyle Petty thats wild and awesome

The reason NASCAR lacks superstars right now is because the championship format resembles a roulette wheel more than a measuring stick of greatness. Back in the Winston Cup era, a driving having a career season leading the points in the summer would be the No. 1 story every single week with everybody chasing him providing their own sub storylines connected to the main one. Everything the championship leaders and their teams did was magnified, creating new storylines each week that built over time. Now, because we know that everything is going to be wiped out in manufactured late season playoff resets, nobody really cares who is leading the points in July or August, or at least not enough for it to be a story that builds. We all know it's going to be wiped out, and because the playoff rounds are so volatile, no storylines or star drivers ever gain traction. Go back to the pre 2004 championship format and I can guarantee you have more mainstream NASCAR stars in a mere three or four years.

Love Kyle Petty!

I can listen to KP talk forever, he gives it to you straight not any of that candy a** talking we get from most nascar ❤

So I have been saying this for the last 10 or so years. I grew up watching NASCAR through the 90s and in general I remember back then you never saw 20 21 22 year old drivers. In 2001 I remember when Casey Atwood got signed to Ray Evernhams Dodge team #19 at 20 years old to start the season (he turned 21 in August of that year). I remember all the talk about how young he was and how he did so well just missing Rookie of the Year finishing 2nd behind Kevin Harvick. Anyway you see drivers getting cup rides regularly at 21-22 years old. Back in the day, a driver wouldn't get a shot at a cup ride til mid to late 20s even early 30s. Things were just different and it all together gave the drivers personality and you got to know them really well because they were interviewed much more....heck these days if you don't finish in top 5 or something really significant happens you don't get interviewed....I remember saying to someone that I didn't even know what many of the drivers looked like these days. When have you ever seen Harrison Burton on camera for an interview? And the drivers that do get on camera all have the same typical bland personality. For example, the last real superstar in NASCAR was Carl Edwards....These days I wonder how some of the drivers in NASCAR have fans when they arent ever interviewed or exposed to show there personality and expose them to give them fan appeal....Formula one is killing NASCAR with this....

First denny plugs out of the groove on actions detrimental now kyle petty. Hard work has paid off dude keep hustling we appreciate the content.

Eric you are killing it!

Wow. Eric first Denny name drops you on the pod. Now you got KP on the show amazing.

Scoring the same guest as Dale Jr. this week is a pretty impressive get for Eric. You're in the big leagues now!

Jeff Gordon is that guy. Sport hasn't been the same since he retired in terms of drivers

Kyle Petty is great about telling it like it is, no matter how unpopular his opinion may be. Go Kyle!

CONGRATS MR. KYLE. YOUR FAMILY IS ONE OF THE NASCAR BUILDERS OF OUR HISTORY.

Man, Kyle Petty is such a good dude. Eric, you have fantastic interview skills! I'm guessing someone is gonna realize that soon, and you won't be only applying it to RU-vid 😊 Victory Junction is the real deal. Everyone should support in any way they can!

A lot of people crap on Kyle but he lays out his opinion in laymen's terms and he's pretty insightful.

As a life long Nebraskan, I just want to say, don’t sweat it Kyle, we are a fly over state. Maybe I will get lucky and run into you along the way. Safe journeys Brother

Someone get this man an actual mic. He’s interviewing Petty from 1984.

I've said it before and I will say it again. William Byron is the guy you want in a perfect car. He will drive a near perfect race with it a while Kyle Larson met back into a wall. In a less than perfect car, you want Kyle Larson all day. He will take a fifth-place car and get a win. He will take a 12th place Ganassi car and get a third place at Darlington with it. The whole time, the car will be sideways. Honestly if you mixed both of those drivers, it would be an unbeatable combination.

Outstanding interview, Eric!

Bravo on a great interview!

That certainly dressed this show right up! Kudos Eric.

Eric this was an awesome interview with Kyle. Thanks, well done!!!

I got a picture of one of Tim Richmond's indy 500 rides from their museum. I was just being introduced to nascar by my dad, who was a Tim Richmond fan, and i never knew he came from own wheel racing or indy. My dad started me on nascar and then open wheel.

Absolutely love this for your channel, great questions as well

Man it's awesome to see how far you've come. You've built this channel and you are a part of the sport. Since I found the channel a few years ago you've help me to reinvigorate my interest in the sport and follow more storylines throughout the week instead of just watching the races each weekend. Thanks for all that you do!

Pretty cool you having Kyle Petty on your podcast.

ANOTHER ERIC VIDEO TODAY!!!!

He should be Billy Byron

NASCAR might have too much parity, but Formula 1 has too little parity. The ideal amount must lie somewhere between the two. I guarantee you NASCAR would get hell if we had a Max Verstappen situation in it, where one driver is winning every single race by 10+ seconds.

Great interview. Thanks!

Kyle Petty on your show and a mention from Denny Hamlin in the same week?! Been watching you for a few years now and it’s awesome to see what you have turned your show into. Keep up the great work Eric!

I'm not expecting I would hear Dan Gurney's name, he's my favourite American driver!

I love Kyle Petty. He has never forgotten the history that made this sport great. It’s not great anymore, at all, not even close, but for him to mention Tim Richmond’s name almost 35 years after he’s passed is incredible!

So cool to see KP on the show

Larson is the man.. watch him at port royal speedway in PA whoop eveyone in 410s...... all the time. Then win nascar race 2 days later. Witnessing greatness on a different level

I am not a K.P. fan ,but, he did a great interview. made some great points. Nascar parity has turned nascar into INDY car racing.

Look at you Eric, from those little stop motion videos to interviewing Kyle freaking Petty! Keep up the good work. Great interview.

No matter how much you love him or Hate Him you got to listen to K.P used to love to see him in that Mellow Yellow car

Parity is good to an extent. There is a balance that needs to be struck because parody is good, but drivers need to be separated based on skill and some ingenuity because we forget that these 40 guys are the 40 guys that made it through the ladder and earned a spot here. Kyle is correct on the cons of parody.

The lack of true superstars has many layers, basically a spec car with just a handful of mega teams assembling them. The sponsors don't do a great job promoting their relationship with the drivers, NASCAR basically putting a muzzle on the drivers leads to a bland product. The cars have become so reliable that very few drop out anymore due to mechanical failures, a Larson can be a superstar because he knows no matter how hard he pushes it, it is not going to break. Even cars that sustain body damage can run up front these days.

Eric your big time now. KP on your show, how sweet.

Great interview with Kyle Petty. But I'm going to disagree with him on his assessment of William Byron. Around 5:40 he says that William has the technical knowledge mechanically & aero wise. What? His background is in Iracing. Byron & Larson are both doing great, but I would build a team around Larson, not Byron.

Here's the thing there's never been a NASCAR guy who's ever won the Indy 500 yet there have been two Indy car guys that have won the Daytona 500 Mario andretti and AJ fort and Tony Stewart sort of a gray line yeah and everyone the Indy 500 but he won the championship and he's won the Daytona 500 The best finish by a NASCAR driver in Indy was Donnie Allison the fourth place I've been Donnie Allison is one of the best racers racers ever extremely underrated

Great interview Eric!

What drivers got superstar status? I believe: Richard Petty Darrell Waltrip Dale Earnhardt Jeff Gordon Jimmie Johnson Now Kyle Busch maybe is the closest one? Needs to win couple more championships with RCR.

Subscribed to your channel today, I have watched you a while and liked what I have seen. Kyle P interview solidifies what I was thinking for me. Good interview 👍

I totally agree with Kyle’s assessment of Jimmy Johnson and Kyle Larson in that they were and are two drivers that are going to win regardless of which cup team that they are on.

I don't think sport needs another Jeff Gordon to have a superstar. I think more of Dale Earnhard or Darrell Waltrip type.

Great interview...thank to Kyle for doing this!

Great job Eric 🎯🦾

Very much enjoyed Kyle on show

Raw, unapologetic, straight up truth is what Kyle Petty lays down. Such a great personality, a true asset to the sport.

Gotta love KP..Always nice to hear from him..GOOD JOB BIGTIME ERIC!!! DAMMMM

How exciting for you as a fan to have a big NASCAR personality willing to come on your show. Is this as big as it’s been for you? Congratulations on all of your new opportunities. Have you asked Kenseth yet? 😉

As far as parody goes, I think it's a balance. I think "superstars" should come from success paired with iconic personality. However, I don't really want to see a single driver win more than about 7 races in a year. The occasional 9 or 10 win season is ok, but we don't want to become F1 where only 3-5 guys win each year and 1 guy wins over 85% of the time. I remember as a little kid Jeff Gordon winning non-stop and thinking they were letting him win. 🤣

If Kyle Larson wins the 500, they’ll have to bring back the Concorde to bring him back to Charlotte on time after victory celebrations in Indy lol

Great interview ☯️☮️

Eric you’re doing a fantastic job on the show.

Kyle is definitely a great interview.

best interview you've done yet......

Enjoyed Kyle's imput ☮️☯️

Fly over state is better than a bypass state like Mississippi

Awesome interview Eric

Omg you got to speak to KP! I was a huge fan of his growing up and it’s awesome you got to speak to him. You inspire me to start my own channel.

I love Kyle Petty, though there have been times he pissed me off to no end. Then there are other times he makes the most sense in the world. Either way he's going to say what he believes it don't matter who doesn't like it.

Great job Eric.

BS we have the privilege to watch Denny Hamlin every Sunday

good work Eric. petty an endless wealth of knowledge

Love to see this show getting more and more credibility.

It’s sad that right now NASCAR personalities aren’t as larger than life as they once were. Used to even non fans would hear the word NASCAR and say “oh that’s thing Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, etc does”. I definitely agree parity hinders the development of well known names and personalities.

Thank you for the video.

Way to go Eric!! You’re killing it!

Mr. @Eric Estepp my fellow Texan from Ft Worth proud of you man. U have hit the big time for sure I envy you. Keep it up

Eric, you've become a very polished personality and interviewer, you are passionate and knowledgeable on the sport. You should be a commentator on TV.

Another thing to note is that even if the playoffs didn’t exist, there would still be no superstars. The interesting about NASCAR is that all these drivers came from a lot of different backgrounds of racing to hone their skills altogether, unlike F1, which is all road course racing (rally cars, I believe also counts as road racing).

Yep, Jimmy 7 time with 5 plus different formats was just a driver with no feedback to Chad that’s makes them and all of Hendricks better is what happened 😂

I had a passing familiarity with NASCAR here and there, but I started watching regularly in 2001. One of my favorite things about it was how there were a lot of drivers that had a shot at winning each week. It was so competitive in the best ways. That's parity. I like parity. Even when there is parity, there's still plenty of room for some teams to excel and others to struggle. Look at the decline of Stewart Hass. They've excelled at struggling lately. I had to stop watching racing for a while due to not having the time after some things in life changed, but taking a break from racing was made easier because Jimmie Johnson seemed to be winning everything. The lack of parity hurt the product for me. The flip side to a dominant superstar is how boring it can be. I never disliked Jimmie, but I hated his dominance. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have to imagine many of the F1 fans are sick of the Verstappen show nearly every week. That's my feeling as an outsider. On Kyle's mention of Martinsville being a train, maybe it's because of watching the races in the early 2000s, but that looked a lot like an old Martinsville race to me, back in the day when missing the bottom was a catastrophe where you had to let like 12 cars pass before betting back in line. I'm not saying there's nothing to work on with the rules package. I'm just saying I still enjoyed what I saw because I enjoyed similar racing 20 years ago. I'm not surprised about some of the issues with the new car thanks to the bigger tires, bigger brakes, and the shifting. The shifting is probably the worst of it. I disagree with Kyle quite a bit. We agree on things some too, but we often diverge. We disagree on the issue of parity. At the end of the day, there's a spectrum. You can have too much parity, and too little. With that said, I appreciate hearing from Kyle here and it's cool to see him on the channel.

Do I want to watch a NASCAR video, eclipse video, or a Diddy video? 🤔