MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Aric Almirola crew chief Trent Owens, the nephew of Lynda Petty, will miss Sprint Cup practice and qualifying Friday at Martinsville Speedway as he attends the funeral service for his aunt.
Owens is expected to return to the track Saturday. In his absence, Richard Petty Motorsports’ research and development main engineer Scott McDougall will help the team and work with car chief Greg Ebert and team engineer Jason Stockert to lead the team throughout Friday.
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Lynda Petty, wife of seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty and whose children include former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, died Tuesday at age 72. Several NASCAR dignitaries, including NASCAR Chairman Brian France, are expected to attend the funeral today, which is being limited to friends and family.
Memorial decals arrived at the track Friday and were placed on the Richard Petty Motorsports cars as well as be available to other teams. Ribbons in the “Petty blue” color will be distributed by race sponsor STP, a longtime sponsor of the Pettys. Teams began placing the decals on their cars Friday morning.
Hendrick teams and others already have added Lynda Petty memorial sticker to cars. #nascar http://t.co/2ujzS3Ifn1
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 28, 2014
Almirola drives Petty’s famous No. 43 car while teammate Marcos Ambrose drives the team’s No. 9.