Born in Randleman, North Carolina, Petty grew up immersed in racing culture but showed early versatility: he was a capable high school quarterback and received college athletic scholarship offers that he turned down in favor of motorsport. He made his major-league stock car debut at eighteen, winning the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200 in one of his father's old 1978 Dodge Magnums — at the time becoming the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race.
Petty made his Winston Cup Series debut in 1979, driving his grandfather Lee Petty's old No. 42, finishing ninth in his first start at the Talladega 500. He worked his way through a full-time schedule in 1981 and 1982, finishing top-ten multiple times before taking his number to Wood Brothers Racing in 1985.
The move to Wood Brothers proved pivotal. In 1985, Petty recorded a career-high seven top-fives. In 1986, driving for Wood Brothers at Richmond, he won his first Cup race — the Miller High Life 400. The following year he won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, establishing himself as a legitimate contender.
After departing Wood Brothers following the 1988 season, Petty signed with the new SABCO Racing team. In 1990, he won the GM Goodwrench 500 at North Carolina Speedway by a margin of 26 seconds. His most successful season came in 1992, when he achieved a career-best fifth in the championship standings, won twice — at Watkins Glen and Rockingham — and came agonizingly close to the championship before a flat tire at Phoenix and an engine failure at Homestead cost him a genuine title shot against Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott.
In 1993, he added another victory at Pocono, and in 1995 won the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Dover, his final career Cup win. He parted with SABCO after 1996 and formed his own team, PE2 Motorsports, in 1997, running the No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac and finishing fifteenth in points that year.
Petty returned to the Petty Enterprises fold in 1999, becoming CEO of the family organization. The 2000 season was shadowed by Adam's death on May 12 during a Busch Series practice session. Kyle missed two Cup races and then finished the season in his son's No. 45, also making guest appearances as a television commentator.
After several years of declining competitiveness with the No. 45, Petty made occasional appearances on behalf of Petty Enterprises through 2008, including a memorable third-place finish at the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. When Boston Ventures purchased Petty Enterprises in early 2008, Petty stepped aside as CEO. His final Cup start came at the fall Phoenix race in 2008, finishing 39th after being collected in a multi-car crash.
Petty had begun supplementing his driving with broadcasting roles from the late 1990s onward, providing commentary on ESPN Busch Series races and later on TNT's Cup coverage, where he replaced Benny Parsons in 2007. Since 2015 he has been a regular presence on NBC Sports' NASCAR programming. In 2023 he began hosting "Dinner Drive with Kyle Petty" on Circle Network, a series pairing celebrity guests, notable vehicles, and shared meals.
He appeared as an actor in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and provided the voice of Cal Weathers in the 2017 animated film Cars 3, following his father Richard's voice work in the Cars franchise.
Petty's most lasting public legacy may be his charitable work. He founded the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America in 1995 — an annual motorcycle journey across the country — which by 2026 had raised over $23 million for children's charities. He co-founded Victory Junction, a camp for children with serious illnesses or chronic medical conditions, established to honor his late son Adam. The camp opened in 2004 in Adam's memory.
Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959 and was a three-time champion; Richard Petty is a seven-time Cup champion and winner of a record 200 races; Kyle won eight Cup races across his career. Adam Petty, who had begun showing genuine promise in the lower series before his death at 19, would have represented the fourth generation in what remains NASCAR's defining dynasty.