NASCAR legend Kyle Petty grew up on two things: racing and Country music — and now he’s bringing both worlds together. Now in his second year hosting Kyle Petty’s Back Then Again Country Countdown with Beasley Media Group Charlotte hosts Charlie and Debbie.
We caught up with Kyle ahead of his appearance at the Full Throttle Acoustic Social at CRS 2026, presented by Beasley, Big Machine Records, Performance Racing Network, and Radio Ink, to talk about the show, the music, and why Country radio and NASCAR continue setting the pace in fan engagement.
Radio Ink: Congratulations on the first year of Back Then Again. How are you enjoying the show so far?
Kyle Petty: Honestly, I am having a blast. I was incredibly apprehensive when we started this thing, because I’m like, man, give me about a month and I’ll run out of stuff to say. Charlie and Debbie, it seems like we’ve been friends our whole lives. It’s been a year together, but it just seems like I’ve known them forever. We just bring it out in each other. So it has been a lot of fun for me.
Radio Ink: Working with Charlie and Debbie, what do you enjoy most?
Petty: You know what? It’s been fantastic because I know nothing about this. So everything is brand new. I’m like a kid in a candy store. When another station comes on board – and I think we’re at 190 stations now and still growing – I’m like, yeah, man, put a mark on the wall!
I think it’s old hat to them in a lot of ways because they’ve been in the industry for so long, and they understand it a lot better than I do, but I get excited over little bitty things, and I think it excites them sometimes because they’re seeing what we’re doing through a fresh set of eyes, too.
Radio Ink: Of course, getting to talk with you, we’ve got to talk racing. You’re also a musician, and you’ve been on the radio on Performance Racing Network before Back Then Again. As a man of many talents, what drew you specifically to Country radio?
Petty: All I know is Country radio! Listen, I grew up traveling with my dad to the racetrack, listening to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard and Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline on AM radio. At the end of my career, as I retired and ventured out into media, an opportunity like this was perfect because it brought those two worlds together. It brought a little bit of the racing stuff, because that’s what we talk about a lot of times — racing stories and people in racing. At the same time, it brought that love of Country music.
I am constantly fascinated because we’ll pick a year and go down these are the hits from, say, 2001 or 1998. And it’s like, oh my God, I remember that song! What a great song! So it’s so cool to do that.
Radio Ink: NASCAR is so fan-oriented, and Country radio really is, too, to the point of sometimes making other formats jealous. What do you think it is about Country that ties it to the listener that radio as a whole could learn from?
Petty: I think you hit it with the question. It’s a relationship. You have a relationship with radio. You have a relationship with the song. You feel like you have a relationship with the artist. And I think that’s it. You feel like the music is talking to you, whether that’s live or on the radio. The story in the song is talking to you.
The people in Country music radio are kind of like the racing people, and let me say that from the standpoint that without the listeners, without the people that buy tickets to the concerts, without the people that turn the channel, without the people that listen, we don’t have a job, man. They’re the ones that take care of us. It’s just like the guy that sits in the third row of the grandstands: he’s the guy that paid my salary when I drove a race car.
If he didn’t show up, I didn’t have a job. If there’s no listener, there’s no job. And that’s kind of the way it is. I think it’s just that circle of life almost.
Radio Ink: Speaking of the power of live music, you’re headed to Nashville this month for CRS 2026 and the Full Throttle Acoustic Social with Beasley Media Group, Big Machine Records, PRN, and Radio Ink. Have you been to CRS before?
Petty: No, I have not, and I am pumped! I really am. I’ve heard so many stories about it. And Scott Borchetta, I know him because he’s in racing too. He crossed over from music to racing, and I’m going from this way to that way. I’m just pumped to be there and to see a lot of people that I’ve met in my life and a lot of people that I’m fans of, but just to be a part of the excitement of it.
Radio Ink: Yeah, Scott’s a serious racer, himself. How have you seen him bring both industries together in his own way?
Petty: You know, it’s not like he just said, I’m going to put my name on the side of a car, I’m just going to dabble in this. He was committed. When you climb in a car and strap a helmet on and put that fire suit on and go out there and run 180, 190 miles an hour, you’re committed to the product. So Scott was committed. And I think he has done a great job of bringing these two industries together in a lot of ways.
I’ll go way back in time since this is Kyle Petty’s Back Then Again Country — my dad won his 200th race at Daytona in the late eighties, and his car owner at the time was none other than the great Mike Curb. So there’s another connection for us to the music industry. That is a huge moment in our sport that will stand forever because nobody’s ever going to reach that number. But then we fast forward 30 or 40 years, and here’s Scott doing kind of the same thing that Mike did — broke that door down, opened up that pathway.
Radio Ink: That’s an amazing connection. So the Full Throttle Acoustic Social is featuring The Band Perry and some up-and-coming Big Machine artists. As you mentioned, Back Then Again is built on revisiting Country music’s past. What’s the importance to you of bridging the genre’s past, present, and future?
Petty: I think no matter how far away we think we get, we’re still connected to that first song. Just like no matter how far and how great we think we are in NASCAR and what we do, we’re still connected to that very first race in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1949 and the drivers and the crew members and the people that built the industry.
Whether you’re a big star or this is your first showcase, you’re connected to Hank Senior in some way. You’re connected back to the Carter Family. You’re connected in some way through the song, through the music, through the instrument you hold in your hands. I don’t think we should ever lose sight of that. Those are the shoulders that you’re standing on.
Radio Ink: So you’ve got year one under your belt; what does success for Kyle Petty’s Back Then Again Country Countdown look like for year two?
Petty: I think year two is a success. They had it back again — how about that?
I will say that I have been truly amazed – I go all over this country following the NASCAR circuit, and I am constantly amazed at the people who will come up and say, “Hey, man, we heard the show on Sunday. Great show. I love those songs, love those stories.” For a lot of people, it’s that glimpse back, and it brings back a lot of memories. But I’m becoming more associated with it, and that to me makes me happy. So that’s success.
Attendance for the Full Throttle Acoustic Social at CRS 2026 is limited, and advance RSVP is required. For details, please contact Andrew Kurland at [email protected].
