A birthday fit for The King

   You will have to find a cake large enough to hold 75 candles if you want to celebrate the birthday of "The King" Richard Petty on Monday. 

 Petty, the seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and owner of 200 Cup Series wins, including seven Daytona 500 victories, is celebrating his 75^th birthday in the same town he was born, Level Cross, N.C. Petty will spend time working at the current location of Petty's Garage and will later spend time with his family.

   Later this week, Petty will fly to a familiar summer spot for him in early July, Daytona Beach, Fla., where he and his family enjoy a birthday dinner in his honor. The dinner, coined "Red, White and Petty Blue," will take place at the Wyndham Ocean Walk Resort and feature guest speakers who have been a part of Petty's life. The night will conclude with a fireworks display and a birthday cake made by the TLC hit show "Cake Boss."

   "I'm really thankful for everyone who has supported us over the years," said Petty. "I really don't think about age too much. I just keep going to the next race. I've been doing that all my life and that's what I'm going to keep doing. But, I am grateful for each day and all the fans who make this a lot of fun for us."

Hamlin agrees to contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing

   Denny Hamlin has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, the driver confirmed Saturday evening. Hamlin made the announcement during TNT's broadcast of its pre-race show Saturday night. 

   Hamlin agreed to the extension even though his current deal was not set to expire until the end of the 2013 season.

   "If I'm going to win a championship, I'm going to do it with Joe Gibbs Racing," Hamlin said. "They worked hard with me to get the deal signed. I'm lucky to have a team and sponsor (Fed Ex) who want to be with me."

   Hamlin, 31, has 19 wins in the Sprint Cup Series in nearly seven full seasons with JGR. He has finished as high as second in the series standings, in the 2010 season. He also has 11 wins in the Nationwide Series and one in the Truck series.

   So far this season Hamlin has a pair of Cup wins and is eighth in the series standings entering Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

Nationwide winner fails post-race tech

   Austin Dillon's tenure atop the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings is likely to be short lived.

   Dillon's car failed post-race inspection Friday night following his victory in the Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway - his first series win. His No. 3 Chevrolet was found to be too low in the rear.

   With the win, Dillon took over the series points lead and holds a two-point lead over Richard Childress Racing teammate Elliott Sadler.

   However, similiar penalties this season have resulted in a $10,000 fine to the crew chief and a loss of six driver points. If the same occurs here, Sadler will retake the series lead once penalties are announced by NASCAR next week.

Daytona prepares for major facelift

   Daytona International Speedway has filed a Planned Master Development application with the City of Daytona Beach, Fla. - the first step in the beginning of new redevelopment projects at the track.

   International Speedway Corp., which owns the track, needed to file the application in order for the property to be rezoned to provide the most flexibility in the track's development.

   Speedway president Joie Chitwood III said the projects could include a complete overhaul of the entire frontstretch grandstand and new suites, entry points, new fan amenities and a redesigned midway area.

   “Our filing with the City of Daytona Beach is only the first step in a long process and there are still many unanswered questions that could impact or even derail this initiative,” Chitwood said. “Multiple internal and external factors will influence the economics and project feasibility, and construction design and costs must still be determined.”

   The track recently underwent a repaving of its surface.

Harvick: "Everyone has to step up, myself included."

  Kevin Harvick didn't mince words on the radio last week and he didn't again Thursday in the media center at Kentucky Speedway.

   If he and his No. 29 Richard Childress Racing team are going to remain contenders for this year's Sprint Cup Series championship, the team needs to stop making mistakes.

   “It’s mistakes. It’s mistakes from top to bottom. There is nothing to hide on the cars run fast enough to win races. The cars run fast enough to be in the top 10 and until the mistakes stop … stuff can’t fall off the car, you can’t run out of gas for the fifth time this year," Harvick said.

   "It’s just flat out mistakes and those guys know that. I know that. It’s not something that we have set out and planned it’s just … and we talked about it very openly this week. This isn’t something that I’m getting defensive about or anything. It’s very obvious as to why this team hasn’t won a race. We are fortunate to be in the position that we are in points, but we can’t scramble. You can’t win a championship and you can’t win races on a week to week basis making the mistakes that we’ve made."

   During the road course race at Sonoma, Calif., last week, Harvick at one point over his team radio said the mistakes had to stop or "We're all going to lose our jobs."

   "You just cannot do the things that we’ve been doing and expect to win races in this garage. Everybody has to step up, myself included. On the way home and Monday you’ve got to figure out how you can lead and try to help fix the situation," he said.

   

   "That was the attitude that I went in Tuesday with was to try to help Richard (Childress) analyze and help Shane (Wilson, crew chief) analyze as to what he needed to do better to help his guys and my guys be better people on a week to week basis. They all can do the job it’s just a matter of crossing the ‘T’s’ and dotting the ‘I’s’ that is what it takes to win races in this garage. It’s tough enough to win, but when you are making the mistakes that we make it’s impossible."

Sponsor weighs in on Villeneuve/Patrick incident

      Discount Tire, the sponsor of Jacques Villeneuve's No. 22 Dodge in last Saturday's Nationwide race at Road America, issued the following statement about the late-race incident between Villeneuve and driver Danica Patrick:

   "Together Penske and Discount Tire have achieved great success in the Nationwide Series, including a championship, and have maintained the highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship throughout that relationship. Although we believe the contact between Villeneuve and Patrick to be unfortunate, it is a part of professional racing. However, Villeneuve’s post-race comments did not reflect our ideals regarding sportsmanship. Having said that, we continue to be very proud of our relationship with the Penske organization."

   To read more about what happened in the race, click here.

A wild ride to the NASCAR Chase

   The addition of two "wild card" berths to the Chase for the Sprint Cup field last season brought an unexpected level of anticipation and excitement as the weeks wound down to the start of the final 10 races of the season.

   At the time it seemed hard to imagine the battle gettting any better in the future.

   Wrong.

   So far anyway, the chase for the two wild card berths this season has risen to a whole new level.

   Entering Saturday night's race at Kentucky Speedway, four drivers – all with one win – are vying for the two wild card spots.

   It's yet another sign the level of competition has increased this year. Already there are eight drivers in the Top 10 in points with wins and drivers from seven different teams have won races – and we're not yet at the halfway point of the season.

   The list of drivers who haven't won yet this season is just as distinguished as the list of who has. Among the 2011 winners yet to visit Victory Lane this season: Kevin Harvick, who finished third in points the bast two seasons, and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon.

   Last season showed the increased importance of winning, particularly in getting into the  Chase, and even in the determination of the series champion. Tony Stewart won his third series title in a tiebreaker over Carl Edwards decided by victories in the season.

   A win alone this year may not be good enough to make the Chase and there's nothing wrong with that.

   In fact, the more winning becomes a dominant part in who is eligible to compete for the championship and who ultimately wins it, the better for NASCAR.