Andretti not thinking about leaving Petty

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Petty Enterprises is concerned that driver John Andretti will leave the organization when his contract expires at the end of the year. It might not have anything to worry about.

Andretti admitted Tuesday he's not happy with his performance this season, but still believes things can turn around with the Petty organization.

"It's too good of an organization to be where we're at and it's - I don't want to use the word 'embarrassing' - but it's just not what we're capable of doing," he said. "I've been here for a lot rougher days and I know that everything is coming in the right direction.

"So I don't know that I am ready to get off right now because I know things are coming."

Andretti is in his fifth season with Petty Enterprises and has had to weather the rebuilding years at the family-owned organization.

But it seems like things are slowly turning around for the three-car stable, even if Andretti's results this year don't show it. He's got just four top-20 finishes in 13 events - with a season-high finish of 15th - and is 32nd in the points standings.

He hasn't hidden his frustration over running in the back of the pack each week, and was irritated this year when boss Kyle Petty refused to allow him to run in the Indianapolis 500.

Petty cited his desire for Andretti to concentrate on the Coca-Cola 600, which is run hours after the Indy 500, in stopping Andretti from trying "double duty" for the second time in his career.

The poor performances, coupled with the Indy issue, created speculation that Andretti would not be back with Petty at the end of the season. Petty has heard the rumors and said over the weekend he hoped Andretti would not leave the No. 43 Dodge.

"John's been out talking, and that's a fact of life in Winston Cup racing," Petty said. "We want him to stay. We would be remiss to change drivers.

"We didn't give John the car last year he was capable of running up front with. John has the potential to win races. He's done it for us. We have got to put a package together for him."

Petty has already made one driver change this season, letting Buckshot Jones go from the No. 44 in favor of Steve Grissom - who drove the car to an eighth-place finish last month at Richmond, its best finish since 2000.

Andretti seemed surprised at all the free agency talk and acted as if he didn't even know his contract was up.

"If I get to January and they stopped paying me, I guess I'd get my contract out and read it," he said. "In all honesty, I couldn't tell you how long I've been here and how long the contract was for."

He also said while disappointed at not running Indy, it would not be a major sticking point to future negotiations with Petty or any other car owner.

"I like people to agree to things and not be forced into them, and I'd hate to think I might have to force an issue to do something," he said.