• Richard Petty said he raced at Daytona, there were five cars in the draft and the cars possessed the horsepower that allowed them to pass.

• Petty said: “You can out-figure four or five people, but you can’t out-figure 15 people.”

• A.J. Allmendinger, who drove for Petty 2009-2011, agreed with his former car owner that it’s difficult to make moves with the current car.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Richard Petty earned his seven Daytona 500 victories via various scenarios, but he “feels sorry” for the drivers competing in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

“They don’t have any horsepower,” Petty said Saturday at the 2.5-mile track. “The situation is you’ve got 15 to 20 cars running. You come down to the end of the race and you’ve got to be in the right line with the right people. It’s not the decision you make as much as it’s the decision that somebody else makes.

“One car can’t do anything. If somebody pulls out, they have to have help because they don’t have any horsepower. You pull out of line and go forward. Then the next lap 14 cars come back by and you’re still running wide open. It’s a real crapshoot. I feel sorry for the drivers that have to drive right now.”

Petty noted that when he competed at Daytona International Speedway there were five cars in the draft and the cars possessed the horsepower that allowed them to pass.

“You could out-figure somebody,” Petty said. “You can out-figure four or five people, but you can’t out-figure 15 people.”

A.J. Allmendinger, who drove for Petty 2009-2011, agreed with his former car owner that it’s difficult to make moves with the current car.

“The cars in traffic get aero tight,” said Allmendinger, who returns to full-time Cup racing for the first time since 2018. “When you’re pushing, you push the wrong way, it’s tough.

“I hate superspeedway racing, but with that said, … when they would drop the green flag over the last five years, there’s a piece of me just missing it.”

Allmendinger noted track position was critical, but with a fast car one could work his way to the front.

“I think it’s more you got to pick and choose when you do it because if you kind of go forward and you get kind of tossed to the back, it’s a lot harder to get back up there now,” Allmendinger explained. “There’s so much luck that goes into this, too.

“These cars stall out really easy. So, I think if you’re trying to start the third lane, you have to have a massive run. You can’t just pop out and hope a couple of guys go with you. We know who’s maybe a little safer and who’s a little bit more aggressive, but let’s not lie to each other. We don’t trust anyone out there!”