Head2Head: Are Pettys making the right move?

It's 71 miles from Level Cross to Mooresville, just less than an hour and a half.

What difference does that make when running a Nextel Cup operation? Richard Petty isn't moving. Kyle Petty won't have his house for sale. Bobby Labonte won't be hiring a realtor this month.

But for the shop itself, it makes a world of difference.

The Pettys announced on Wednesday that they would be uprooting from Level Cross after 58 years and relocating near the Charlotte area. It's a drastic blow to the area considering the historical ramifications. Yet it's the best thing Petty Enterprises can do.

Three other full-time race teams operate what could be termed as "outside" of metro-Charlotte: Morgan-McClure Motorsports (Abingdon, Va.), Furniture Row Racing (Denver) and Bill Davis Racing (High Point, N.C.). Those organizations have a combined four Nextel Cup victories since 2000, all by Bill Davis Racing.

The reason? Money, of course. But staffing is right there with it. One look at the hiring of Doug Randolph as crew chief of the No. 43 car will tell you that.

By moving 71 miles, Petty is now centrally located to lure top-shelf crewman, mechanics and engineers -- something it couldn't do when trying to pitch a job that required a 90-minute commute or purchasing a house where jobs are tough to come by.

The median household income for Charlotte families in 2006 was $56,517 annually. In Level Cross it was $44,369. Not that Petty will be able to suddenly offer 12 grand more per employee. But the city of Charlotte may be able to help supplement that family income by providing a better job pool for spouses and children.

Money will always win the bidding war and always lure the best talent. It's the other things that help, too.

"Yeah, Chad, we'd like you to come work for us at Petty. We'll pay you less and you have to drive 70 miles one-way each day to work."

Or ...

"Yeah, Chad, we'd like you to come work for us at Petty. We're right across the street from you."

Which sounds better?

It will take more than a change of scenery to make Petty Enterprises a player again in NASCAR.

Petty remains one of the most significant names in all of auto racing, but the organization responsible for 10 NASCAR championships hasn't been a major factor for the better part of three decades now.

Richard Petty won the last of his seven Cup titles in 1979. The King won eight more races under the Petty banner after that, the last coming in 1983. (Note: Petty won the final two races of his storied career in 1984, but the 43 car was owned at the time by Mike Curb.)

Petty Enterprises has but three wins since -- Bobby Hamilton drove the 43 car to Victory Lane one time in both the 1996 and 1997 seasons and John Andretti piloted the STP classic to victory in 1999. Remember, none of Kyle Petty's eight career victories were in a racecar belonging to the team his grandfather Lee founded in 1949.

But the NASCAR of today is far different than it was in Richard Petty's heyday, or even Kyle's for that matter. Right now, it just takes more than Petty Enterprises has to be even moderately successful.

It's not where the shop is located, but instead how many good people there are working inside those hallowed halls and what state-of-the-art equipment is at their disposal. Granted, a move to the hub of NASCAR might attract better personnel, but I would have to question anyone unwilling to relocate a scant 70 miles for an opportunity to work for legendary Petty Enterprises. Unless there are better teams for which to work. And there are.

While Petty is moving on, most teams are adding on. Mergers are in vogue. Four-car teams are the gold standard; three-car teams the bottom line. Anything less is essentially a bottom-feeder. And Petty is a two-car operation.

The only two-car team to have much if any success this season is Penske Racing, which has one driver in the Chase and both cars in the top 20 in owner points. Bobby Labonte has a chance to put a Petty car in the top 20 in owner points for the first time since 1999.

Petty has made upgrades in personnel in recent years, bringing aboard former champion crew chief Robbie Loomis and Labonte, the 2000 driver champion, among others. But until a deal can be reached that will ultimately add man and machine power, Petty's move is nothing more than unilateral at best.