This weekend’s Coke Zero 400 will mark 25 years since Richard Petty recorded his 200th, and final, victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on July 4, 1984.

In addition to ‘The King’s’ monumental triumph, President at the time Ronald Reagan was attending the NASCAR event at Daytona International Speedway.

Petty’s crew chief Buddy Parrott recalls, “The main thing that sticks out in my mind still is that the President was there and Richard did a heck of a job driving the car and the crew did a great job pitting the car. It was a great win.”

Ned Jarrett served as the broadcaster for MRN radio the day of Petty’s final win. Jarrett got the chance to interview Regan, and witness the President’s past experience as a sportscaster when he called the race for a brief period of time.

"The whole time that we were there it was the story,” Jarrett said. “Everybody was excited about it and all the things that they did to try to make the President as safe as possible. It was neat to see all of that. I think people were fascinated, as I was, as much as anything with the care that was taken and the things that they did. It was a thorough preparation."

On lap 158 Doug Heveron crashed bringing out the yellow flag, and setting the stage for what was one of the most exciting finishes in NASCAR history.

Racing back to the flag for the lead on the following restart, Petty and Cale Yarborough battled ferociously to the start/finish line. With smoke coming from between the two cars due to the drivers bumping one another, it was Petty who crossed the line first.

"They were racing for the lead and they were coming up on a lap car,” Jarrett recollected. “I don't remember who that was. Richard got a little bit of a draft off of that car and passed Cale as they got to the start/finish line and then the caution came out.”

Thinking that the race had ended, Yarborough went into pit road. Yarborough’s misunderstanding cost him the runner-up position, he finished the race third.

Harry Gant was running third prior to Yarborough’s journey down pit road, but inherited the second spot when Yarborough exited the track.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” said Gant. “I went around the race track and (the pace car) picked us up and Richard comes around and Cale goes down pit road and I started to go with him. I thought that must have been the checkered flag. I almost went down and they hollered at me on the radio to stay on the track. I almost followed Cale right down pit road. He was running right in front of me.”

Immediately following the race, Petty exited his car and went to the press box to greet Reagan. Reagan then ventured to Victory Lane with the race winner to celebrate the unmatched accomplishment.

With a quarter of a century since Petty’s final win as a driver in NASCAR, that moment in time played an epic role on the shaping of stock car racing.

"The sport has been blessed over the years for something to happen, it seems like at opportune times, to take the sport to another level,” stated Jarrett. “It's not by planning that it happens that way. It just happens. Certainly that's one of the times that ranks very high as far as what it did for the sport and the notoriety that it brought to the sport and creditability. I would say that it ranks in the top five, maybe even at the top."

 MORE NASCAR NEWS