Richard Petty Motorsports enthused about return of 'The King'

Richard Petty Motorsports will enjoy a morale boost from having its namesake back at a NASCAR track this weekend for the first time in more than a month. But even though Richard Petty hasn't attended a Sprint Cup race since the March 25 death of wife Lynda, the seven-time champion still has made his presence felt within his two-car team.

"He's taken time to spend at home and collect his thoughts and get his feelings straight, but you can't take the racer out of that guy," RPM driver Aric Almirola said during a Wednesday conference call with news media. "He's not going to sit at home and just sit around and do nothing. He's been watching practices, watching qualifying, watching races. He's still been heavily involved and paying attention for sure; he just hasn't been at the racetrack."

That will change Friday at Richmond International Raceway, where "The King" will return after missing the race weekends at Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway.

Almirola said his car owner has received lengthy postrace status reports at the team's shop each Monday from Dale Inman, Petty's longtime crew chief and now a consultant at RPM.

"I've spent quite a bit of time with him over the last few weeks, and it's going to be great to have our leader back at the racetrack," said Almirola, who worked Tuesday with Petty at an appearance in Nashville. "All the guys on the race team, myself included, look up to him and enjoy having him around and inside the hauler and talking to us after practice and getting his perspective, so I'm excited.

"He comes to about 95% of the races every year, so for him to take two to three weeks off, I know he's itching to get back to the racetrack. He's looking forward to Richmond."

RPM excelled in its first race without Petty as Almirola and teammate Marcos Ambrose each finished in the top 10 at Martinsville Speedway. But both Fords were outside the top 10 at Texas and Darlington.

Trent Owens, crew chief for Almirola and Petty's nephew, said Petty's presence would provide a boost.

"Being back at the racetrack, is going to be good for our race team and good for him," Owens said. "It'll be good medicine. When something like that happens, you want to hide for a little bit and get your feelings straight, but he's been by the shop and been in good spirits, and I think he's doing very well considering. We look forward to getting him back to race mode."

Petty is the all-time leader with 200 victories in NASCAR's premier series, and Almirola said the institutional knowledge sometimes comes in handy when Petty offers advice after practices.

"There are some things I can pick up from him," Almirola said. "During practice, he'll watch me from on top of the hauler, and Dale Inman will stand up there, too, taking lap times with a stopwatch. That's one thing I pick up the most is what they observe."

Follow Ryan on Twitter @nateryan