Pettys, Rudd Favor NASCAR Franchising: As a car owner whose teams are struggling to keep up with multicar megateams, seven-time champion Richard Petty has a solution to guarantee those who built NASCAR stick around: franchising. "I don't know if I'll live long enough to see it or not, but it will probably happen someday," said the man still widely referred to as 'The King.' "I think the only thing in my mind that keeps NASCAR from becoming a completely legitimate, major league with golfing or football or baseball or whatever is being franchised." He's not alone. Son Kyle, who runs the two-car Petty Enterprises entry in the Nextel Cup series and drives one of the cars, and veteran Ricky Rudd said it's time NASCAR give back to its teams. NASCAR's vice president of racing operations, Steve O'Donnell, said the governing body has considered franchising and discussed it with team owners. "The challenge is 'what does a franchise mean?' in our sport and how can it benefit everyone?" O'Donnell said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.