Mark Petty showed there's something to certain genetic theories in 2000 when the nephew of seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty took the oldest Dodge chassis in the Petty Enterprises shop and, at the conclusion of an introductory season, was running among the leaders on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with a team bolstered primarily by his brothers, Ritchie and Timmy.

The Petty clan, who supervises the engine shop at Petty Enterprises, capped their seven-race warm-up season with a single race vehicle with a lead lap 10th place finish at Texas and a 14th at California Speedway. Mark, 31, opened the 2001 season in a truck owned by veteran mechanic Tex Powell before returning to his family ride.

Mark Petty, whose father Maurice "Chief" Petty had keyed many of his brother's 200 career Winston Cup victories, had been out of the driver's seat for several seasons. Prior to taking the sabbatical, he won three poles and a race at Caraway Speedway in Asheville, N.C., a NASCAR Weekly Racing Series facility.