DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --- Twenty-five years after his final victory, Richard Petty has forgotten much about the race.

He remembers the important stuff, though.

The last few laps. The post-race celebration. The presidential visit. The impromptu picnic.

The King has relived all of those memories this week as part of the milestone anniversary of his 200th and final NASCAR win. It came July, 4, 1984, in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona Inter-national Speedway.

"We won 199 (races); that was the cake," Petty said, clad in his trademark dark sunglasses and feathered cowboy hat. "Then the Fourth of July in '84 was the icing that went on the cake. That's the way I look at it."

It remains one of the more notable races in Daytona's storied history and certainly ranks high on Petty's list of accomplishments.

And for good reason.

President Ronald Reagan became the first sitting commander in chief to attend a NASCAR race that day, and Air Force One made quite an impression landing at a nearby airport.

Reagan stuck around until the end -- he even did a few laps of radio play-by-play during the race -- congratulated Petty on his 200th win and then ate chicken with drivers, crew members, NASCAR employees and their families in the garage area.

"I guess we couldn't have a better script if we wrote it ourselves," Petty said. "Everything just fell in place. Back then, it was a big deal. It's probably still a big deal now in a lot of people's minds."

To commemorate the anniversary, NASCAR planned to have Petty lead the field before the start of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400. And he'll be driving a replica of his famed, blue and red No. 43 STP Dodge, the one he took to Victory Lane so many times during his distinguished career.

Petty has a plan for it, too.

"It's going to be interesting," Petty said. "They're going to start me in the front and I ain't got a restrictor plate. What I ought to do is when they throw the flag, go around them and when I get ready to start lapping them, come in and tell them something's a matter with the car. I'd be one of them start-and-park cars."

Petty ireturned to Victory Lane for the first time in 364 races when Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne won a road-course race at Infineon Raceway in June.