Founded as Lee Petty Engineering in 1949, Lee Petty brought the team its first start at Occoneechee Speedway, finishing ninth. The team's first win came that same year at Heidelberg Raceway, and Petty finished second in points that season. He won one race each in 1950 and 1951, followed by three victories in 1952. Five wins in 1953 preceded a championship in 1954. He continued with six wins in 1955 and two in 1956. In 1957, Petty won four races as the team began running additional cars. Lee Petty accumulated 54 career wins, including the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, and three national championships. During the 100 Mile Qualifying Races for the 1961 Daytona 500, Lee was involved in a severe crash with Johnny Beauchamp, hospitalising both drivers. Lee made only a handful of starts between 1962 and 1964.
The distinctive "Petty Blue" paint scheme originated around 1958 by accident, when the team lacked sufficient white or dark blue paint to cover a car entirely — the resulting mix became the team's signature colour.
Richard Petty was placed in the No. 43 in 1959, making ten starts with five top-tens and four top-fives, earning the 1959 Rookie of the Year award. In 1960 he scored his first career win at Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway, making 40 starts with three wins and finishing second in points. Richard accumulated ten wins across 1961 and 1962. His breakout year was 1963: fourteen wins, thirty top-fives, thirty-nine top-tens, and eight poles, yet he still finished second to Joe Weatherly in the championship.
In 1964 Richard won his first Grand National title and his first Daytona 500. He joined the Chrysler boycott of NASCAR in 1965 due to the ban of the Hemi engine and made only fourteen of fifty-five races. He returned fully in 1966, winning another Daytona 500 and finishing third in points. In 1967, Richard compiled twenty-seven wins from forty-eight starts, including a record ten consecutive victories, earning the nickname "King Richard." One of those wins was the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He also took his second Grand National Series championship that season. In 1969 he switched to Ford, believing his Plymouth was not competitive on superspeedways, and won ten races. In 1970 Plymouth introduced the Plymouth Superbird, and Richard returned to Plymouth. In 1971 he won twenty-one races, his third Daytona 500, and his third championship, becoming the first stock car driver in history to earn over $1,000,000 in a season.
At the end of the 1971 season, Chrysler withdrew factory backing. In 1972, STP began a long sponsorship arrangement, altering the all-Petty-Blue livery to a combination of Petty Blue and STP Red. Richard won his fourth series title that year — the inaugural Winston Cup championship — with eight victories, twenty-five top-fives, and twenty-eight top-tens. In 1973 he drove a Dodge Charger full-time and won his fourth Daytona 500. In 1974, all NASCAR races were shortened due to the energy crisis; Petty won ten races including the "Daytona 450" and his fifth championship. In 1975 he won thirteen races including the World 600 at Charlotte for the first time, claiming his sixth title — thirteen wins in a season remains the modern-era record, later tied by Jeff Gordon in 1998.
At the 1976 Daytona 500, Petty and David Pearson crashed while battling for the lead on the final lap; Pearson's car kept running and he won while Petty's engine stalled yards from the finish. In 1978 the team struggled to make the Dodge Magnum handle as desired. Unhappy with the results, Petty switched to General Motors vehicles for 1979. He kicked off the season by winning the Daytona 500 — the first live flag-to-flag broadcast of a NASCAR race — capitalising on a crash between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough on the final lap. He ran most remaining races in a Chevrolet, winning four more times to claim his seventh and final NASCAR championship, beating Darrell Waltrip by eleven points.
In 1981 Petty won his seventh Daytona 500 in a Buick Regal through a strategic late-race pit stop. For 1982 he moved to the Pontiac Grand Prix. Richard left Petty Enterprises after the 1983 season for Curb Racing, returning in 1986 with little subsequent success. On 1 October 1991, Petty announced he would retire after the 1992 season. His final race was the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway; involved in an accident on lap 94, the team repaired the car and sent him back out for the final two laps. He was classified 35th, then took one additional ceremonial lap in a fender-less car.
In 1994, Wally Dallenbach Jr. returned the No. 43 to competition, tallying three top-10s and one top-5 before being replaced mid-season by John Andretti. For 1995, Bobby Hamilton — the 1991 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year — was hired; he scored his first win with the team in 1996 at Phoenix, Petty Enterprises' first victory since 1983. Hamilton won again at Rockingham in 1997 before leaving for Morgan-McClure Racing.
John Andretti returned in 1998 and gave the team three top-5s, then won at Martinsville in 1999 — the final win for Petty Enterprises. The team lost longtime sponsor STP in mid-2000 and switched to General Mills. In 2003 Andretti was released fourteen races in, replaced by Brazilian driver Christian Fittipaldi, who also struggled and was released after ten races. Jeff Green drove in 2004–2005 with a best finish of seventh at Martinsville. In 2006 the team brought in 2000 Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte and former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Robbie Loomis. Late in 2007 Petty Enterprises moved from Randleman to Mooresville, North Carolina, into the old Robert Yates Racing facility — the first time in the team's history it was not based near Randleman. Labonte finished 18th in points in 2007 but fell back to 21st in 2008 with just two top-10s.
The No. 42 was Lee Petty's primary car from 1949 to 1961, passed to Kyle Petty from 1979 to 1984. Kyle won his first race — the ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway — in the No. 44 Dodge Magnum in 1979, becoming the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race at the time. The No. 42 was renumbered No. 7 in 1983 due to a 7-Eleven sponsorship; Kyle earned eight top-5s but no wins before leaving for the Wood Brothers in 1985, taking his sponsor with him.
After Richard Petty's retirement, the No. 43 was renumbered as the No. 44 and driven by Rick Wilson in 1993 with limited results. Kyle Petty formed his own PE2 Motorsports team in 1997 running the No. 44, which merged back into Petty Enterprises after 1998. Kyle became team CEO. Following the death of his son Adam Petty during a Busch Series practice session at New Hampshire International Speedway in May 2000, Kyle took over Adam's No. 45 car and drove it in Cup racing from 2001 onward in Adam's honour.
Adam Petty had made his Winston Cup debut in April 2000 and had been regarded as the future of the team. He was killed when his throttle stuck wide open going into the third turn at New Hampshire, hitting the outside wall and suffering a basilar skull fracture. He was 19 years old. Adam had earlier won his first ARCA race in 1998 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Petty Enterprises made its Busch Series debut in 1988 with Kyle Petty in the No. 30 car. Adam Petty drove the No. 45 Chevrolet in the Busch Series in 1999, finishing sixth in his first race at Daytona with a best finish of fourth at Fontana and ending the season 20th overall in points.
In the Craftsman Truck Series, the team debuted in 1995 with Rodney Combs in the No. 43 truck part-time. In 1996 Rich Bickle ran the truck full-time, winning two poles and recording nine top-10s. Jimmy Hensley drove the No. 43 Cummins Dodge for three seasons from 1997, winning at Nashville in 1998 and at Martinsville in 1999 — the last win of his career.
In January 2009, with Boston Ventures unable to secure sponsorship for any Petty Enterprises car, the team merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The No. 43 was absorbed into the merged entity, which took the name Richard Petty Motorsports. By January 2009 the only remaining Petty Enterprises employees were Robbie Loomis and Richard Petty himself. In 2021, Richard Petty Motorsports merged with GMS Racing to form Petty GMS Motorsports, which rebranded in 2023 as Legacy Motor Club. The team's former facilities in Randleman became The Petty Garage in 2010, specialising in custom cars and vintage restorations.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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