Lee Petty established the team in 1949, entering the inaugural seasons of what would become NASCAR's top series. Running the No. 42 car out of Occoneechee Speedway for early events, Lee built the team steadily through the early 1950s, collecting wins in 1950 and 1951 before racking up three victories in 1952 and five in 1953. He won the series championship in 1954 and continued his dominance through the decade.
Lee's most celebrated moment came in 1959 when he won the inaugural Daytona 500, cementing Petty Enterprises as a force in NASCAR's signature event. By the time he retired as a full-time driver, Lee had accumulated 54 career wins and three national championships. A serious crash during qualifying for the 1961 Daytona 500, involving a collision with Johnny Beauchamp, effectively ended his competitive career, and the team's mantle passed to the next generation.
Richard Petty began racing the No. 43 in 1959, earning Rookie of the Year honors. His early seasons showed promise, but 1963 became his breakout year, yielding fourteen wins, thirty top fives, and thirty-nine top tens. Despite that performance, he finished second in the championship to Joe Weatherly.
The 1964 season delivered Richard's first Grand National title and first Daytona 500 win. After briefly withdrawing from competition during the 1965 Chrysler boycott of NASCAR, Petty returned in 1966 and in 1967 delivered perhaps the most dominant single season in NASCAR history: twenty-seven wins from forty-eight starts, including a record ten consecutive victories, earning him the permanent nickname "King Richard." He claimed his second championship that year.
Richard went on to win seven NASCAR championships with the team — in 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1979 — and seven Daytona 500s, records that remained unmatched for decades. The 1972 season inaugurated a long partnership with STP, producing the iconic blue-and-red livery that would become synonymous with the No. 43. The 1979 Daytona 500 victory came as the race was broadcast live in its entirety for the first time on network television, with Petty inheriting the lead after Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crashed on the final lap, and is widely regarded as a watershed moment in NASCAR's growth as a national sport.
The team's flag car delivered thirteen victories in 1975, a modern-era record later tied by Jeff Gordon in 1998. Richard's final win with the organization came at the 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona, the 200th and last victory of his career, achieved on the Fourth of July in front of President Ronald Reagan.
Kyle Petty, Richard's son, joined the team from 1979, initially in the No. 42. He won the very first race he entered, the ARCA 200 at Daytona in 1979. Kyle drove for Petty Enterprises in the early 1980s before departing for the Wood Brothers in 1985.
Richard announced his retirement after the 1992 season, embarking on a nationwide Fan Appreciation Tour in his final year. After Richard stepped away from driving in 1992, the team continued to field cars under the Petty name, though without the championship-level success of prior decades. Kyle returned to the team as a driver in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, running the No. 45 alongside the enduring No. 43.
By the mid-2000s, Petty Enterprises struggled to attract and retain top-tier sponsorship. The team ran Dodge Chargers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series but could not compete consistently with better-funded rival organizations. Unable to secure sponsorship for the 2009 season, the team closed in January 2009 and merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, forming Richard Petty Motorsports. The merged entity carried forward the iconic No. 43 and Petty blue livery.
Richard Petty Motorsports underwent further rebranding over subsequent years, becoming Petty GMS Motorsports in 2021 and Legacy Motor Club in 2023. The original Petty Enterprises shop in Randleman became The Petty Garage after 2010, operating as a specialty automotive workshop focused on custom cars and vintage restorations.
At the time of its dissolution, Petty Enterprises held the record as the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history, with 268 victories — a mark it had held for 61 years, since Lee Petty's 1960 win. Hendrick Motorsports surpassed it in 2021. The No. 43 car remains one of the most recognized numbers in motorsport, and the Petty family's impact on the development of NASCAR as a national sport is without parallel.