Even Petty unsure of how to celebrate team's victory (cont'd)

No question about that. Kahne drove a brilliant race, Francis and the rest of the crew members executed nearly perfect pit strategy. Nothing should take away from any of that.

But this race victory belonged more to them than to the man whose name heads up the company Kahne drives for these days -- not that Petty can't savor it at least a little, too. He's still there for moral support on race days, even if, again, he would be the first to admit that he's not relied on for much else any longer.

"It's kind of a deal like after I quit driving in '92, and then I was not involved in the cars near as much," Petty said. "And over a period of years, you got to be more of an owner than you was a mechanical deal or telling the drivers what to do or whatever. You'd usually give it up to the crew chiefs and the drivers to do what they want. They can go to the engineer and figure out what's going on."

With a chuckle, he then added: "So all they want me to do is bring in money so they can go racing."

More to it

That's not quite true. Kahne genuinely seemed to enjoy sharing his victory with the King, and for that he should be commended. The record winner of 200 Cup races deserves respect.

Plus, Petty does play a role, however limited, in the organization that now bears his name. And when he sold his name to the Gillett family, he did so in the hope that he could someday soon stand triumphant in Victory Lane once again.

He got to do that Sunday.

"I think that was really cool to see Richard in Victory Lane with us, and it's a big deal," Kahne said.

Petty obviously enjoyed it.

"I'm a hard head. That's the reason I keep coming back," Petty said. "It was the same deal that I run into when I drove the car, OK? I drove, and I won in '84, I guess, and then didn't win anymore. When it finally dawned on me, 'You're not good enough doing your job to win any more races, so you'd better get out.'

"But this is a little bit different because you've got to figure it's a team. Of course it was a team when I was driving, and I wasn't carrying my end of the deal. But when you've got drivers like we've got now who are carrying their part of the load, then it's up to me to push the mechanics or push everybody to give these guys the very best that we can give them. And when we give them the good stuff, then they're going to run good."

Sunday they gave them all the good stuff. In addition to Kahne winning, two other RMP entries finished in the top 10 -- with A.J. Allmendinger finishing seventh and Elliott Sadler 10th.

Yet there was a time when it seemed a return to Victory Lane for Petty would have set off speculation that the name is bound for a return to glory. That kind of talk was muted at best Sunday, even by Petty himself.

"You know, I hope it is. That's what we set out to try to accomplish," Petty said. "But it was one of those days. Everything fell together. The car was good, the crew was good; they made really good strategy on making their pit stops, the whole deal. And it was one of those picture-perfect days. They did exactly what they needed to do to win the race.

"You get maybe three or four of those chances a year. You might win more races than that, but a lot of times you've got to overcome other circumstances. They had everything lined up. ... Hopefully it's the beginning of something else, but it's just another day. We've got to get ready now and go to New Hampshire and back this one up."

There was more good news. Chuckling, Petty added: "From a financial end, we'll be there next week. We've got enough money to get to the next race."

For that, though, Richard Petty Motorsports owes more to Kasey Kahne and Kenny Francis than to Richard Petty. That's the plain truth these days, which are nothing like the days of old.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.