Petty wins No. 200

It's July 4, 1984 at Daytona International Speedway and President Ronald Reagan will give the command to start engines from Air Force One, and then watch the finish from the stands. And to top it off, Richard Petty was trying to win his 200th career race.

With two laps to go, Doug Heveron crashed and went airborne in the first turn to bring out a caution. It set up a mad dash to the finish line between Petty and Cale Yarborough.

Yarborough passed for the lead along the backstretch; Petty made one last push at the finish line to win by inches. The president was so taken by the win he stayed for hours, eating with the drivers and crews in a garage area picnic.

Junior's return

Five months after his father died in his rearview mirror on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to Daytona for the 400-mile race in July for a stunning victory the entire sport embraced.

Without the benefit of a drafting partner, Earnhardt Jr. passed five cars on the final lap to win. For the first time in months, tears of sorrow for his father's death were replaced by tears of joy as the son seemed to accept his father's role as the crowd favorite.

ELLIOTT WINS A MILLION

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. offered $1 million to any driver in 1985 who could win any three of the four biggest races -- the Daytona 500, Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600 or Southern 500.

The cigarette company, as well as NASCAR, got an instant return on its investment when Bill Elliott opened the season by winning the Daytona and Winston races. He finished 18th at the Coca-Cola 600 then headed to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway a win away from the biggest payday in stock car racing's history.

Elliott passed Yarborough with 44 laps to go and drove away to the win, elevating NASCAR's presence as a national sport.

HARVICK PAYS RESPECT

Kevin Harvick was pressed into Sprint Cup Series action quicker than he expected when Earnhardt died. Three weeks to the day of Earnhardt's death, Harvick won a photo finish with Jeff Gordon at the Cracker Barrel 500.

More than 100,000 fans at Atlanta Motor Speedway held up three fingers -- Earnhardt's car number -- as Harvick drove his No. 29 Chevrolet onto pit road and into the waiting arms of thousands of tearful crewmen from every team.

Logano's Lucky Crash

Joey Logano, 19, got two free passes back to the lead lap as the top-running car a lap down during a caution period during last Sunday's race. He also blew a tire and spun out in the fourth turn.

If not for all the trouble, Logano couldn't have won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The trouble put Logano in a different pit sequence with everyone else. He was able to stretch his gas mileage until rain forced a quick ending of the race 28 laps before its scheduled finish.