For the first time since 1999, “The King” returned to Victory Lane as a car owner last Sunday at Infineon Raceway, and NASCAR legend Richard Petty’s timing couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Driver Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge) claimed the first victory for the new Richard Petty Motorsports — the organization that melded teams from Petty Enterprises and Gillett-Evernham Motorsports during the winter — and Petty’s towering, trademark hat, sunglasses and mega-watt smile were a welcome addition to the celebration.

The victory, the first at a road course for Kahne, also struck the perfect-timing note.

Next week, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway, Petty will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his 200th and final series victory. It came on July 4, 1984, during the series’ traditional Independence Day weekend at Daytona, before an audience that included then-President Ronald Reagan. It also sealed Petty’s status as the sport’s all-time leader in victories.

“I told him, ‘We got the President of the United States on the sports page, and the President of the United States got us on the front page,’” Petty said of the day’s honor “So it was a pretty good tradeoff.”

Now, Petty functions as the namesake and at-track inspiration for the fledgling RPM team, which remains co-owned by George Gillett.

“Sometimes it gets kind of aggravating but overall it’s really what I want to do and it’s what I have always done,” Petty said, “and I always feel like as long as I can do it, I want to keep doing it, because if I ever pull over to the side of the road, somebody is going to go by me and I don’t like that part.”