Notes: Horsepower sport of King's, and the Queen's

RICHMOND, Va. -- Saturday was going to be an unusually busy day even for Richard Petty, who was set to embark on a day indeed fit for The King.

Petty was full of one-liners Friday when he was asked about his plans to follow the Queen Elizabeth of England on her route from Richmond, where she visited Thursday, to the Kentucky Derby, which she will attend Saturday. Someone joked that if the Queen was going to be at the Derby, well, the King should be, too.

But Petty said that he doesn't expect to run into Queen Elizabeth.

"I've got a queen at home that I have to answer to. That's all I worry about," he said.

Petty was planning to fly to Louisville on Saturday morning, attend the Derby, then fly back to Richmond in time to watch at least the latter part of Saturday's Nextel Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. He said if he does run into the queen at the Derby, she should be able to figure out who he is.

"I've got my hat on right now. They say all the women down there wear big hats. I'm going to be the man running around with a big hat on," he joked.

"Really, if I meet the queen, it'll probably be a nod and that's as far as it will go. Because I don't speak English. I speak Southern American and I don't know if she would understand that or not. I know who she is, but I doubt very seriously if she knows who I am. ... And she wears them great big hats. She might outdo me on the hat deal."

Who is Jim Stewart?

Good question. He's the fan from a small town in Louisiana who won a contest with Crown Royal to have Saturday night's Nextel Cup Series race named after him.

Stewart, 34, of Houma, La., was selected as the grand-prize winner of Crown Royal's "Your Name Here" promotion. That's how the official name of Saturday's race became the "Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400."

In addition to seeing his name on everything from tickets to race merchandise, Stewart also entertained the media at a news conference Friday that also was attended by Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Ford bearing the race sponsor's name. And on Saturday he'll get to attend the pre-race drivers' meeting, ride in the pace car, serve as the race's grand marshal and even deliver the trophy to the winner in Victory Lane.

"It has not sunk in yet," Stewart said at mid-afternoon Friday. "When I got here [Friday] morning I saw the logo that was about 80 foot long with my name on it, and I just couldn't believe it. I've done four TV shows and nine radio shows just since [Friday] morning. I'm going on about an hour and a half of sleep but I'm not tired yet.

Stewart won the contest after submitting his favorite "Crown-worthy" moment and becoming one of nine finalists selected by a panel of judges. The finalists were flown to Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500 in February, where Stewart was selected as the winner in a random drawing.

McMurray surprised by fine

Jamie McMurray thought he was about to part with a few bucks to buy a go-kart from a NASCAR official when he was informed that his wallet was about to get a whole lot lighter because of an incident between McMurray and driver Kevin Harvick at the end of last Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega.

"When I went in to talk to him about buying [the go-kart], he asked me if I had talked to [John] Darby [Nextel Cup Series director]. And I said, 'Why would I talk to Darby?' McMurray said.

Drivers fined

NASCAR penalized Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick for what appeared to be intentional and unnecessary contact between the two cars after the caution froze the field on the white-flag lap of a green-white-checkered finish at Talladega.

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"[The NASCAR official] said, 'Well, because I think you might have gotten into some kind of trouble in Talladega.' And I said, 'Well, no, I didn't get in trouble. I didn't do anything.' ... I didn't think anything happened that was bad enough to result in a penalty or a fine."

McMurray was wrong. Harvick, thinking McMurray had been responsible for an earlier incident that actually was the fault of another driver, sideswiped McMurray's car in frustration. Then McMurray appeared to swerve into Harvick in retaliation. McMurray denied that being the case, but the incident eventually resulted in NASCAR levying $25,000 fines for both drivers.

Harvick learned of the fines when McMurray called him to ask what he had been so fired up about, and after Harvick apologized for a hot-headed response directed at the wrong driver.

"Yeah, well, it cost us $25,000 apiece for you to be hot-headed, and for me to not do anything," McMurray said he told Harvick. "He said, 'No way.' And I said, 'Oh, no, it's real. I just talked to John Darby.' It could have been avoided and never should have happened."

No fans of the COT

Driver Kyle Busch's criticism of the Car of Tomorrow may not be as vocal as it was when he won the first COT race in NASCAR history at Bristol on March 25, but it hasn't really softened any.

Asked what kind of race fans could expect Saturday, Busch deadpanned: "Oh, it'll be great. It'll be single-file, follow-the-leader just like the last [COT race]."

Driver Clint Bowyer was even more pointed in his criticism of the COT. He said of Saturday's event: "I think the Cup race will be another boring one." Then he explained why he thinks so.

"I think that every time we run this car, it's going to be a different race," Bowyer said. "I think that grip is always an issue with this car. It's just hard. You're racing yourself. You're racing the racetrack. If someone comes up on you, just let him go. It slows you down when you're racing door-to-door. It's almost impossible; it just slows you down so much."