No, that’s not President Barack Obama’s new ride.

That car, the No. 48 Chevy, belongs to Nascar driver Jimmie Johnson, who, along with colleagues Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnheardt Jr, dropped by the White House on the invitation of the Commander-In-Chief.

Mr. Obama gladly took some time off – what we can only assume – his hectic schedule to honor Johnson, the three-time Sprint Cup titleholder and defending champion.

We all know the President is a sports nut but we didn’t figure that he ranks Nascar right up there with the NBA and the NFL. While a number of celebrated athletes have all been invited by the President, this is the first time he’s met with NASCAR drivers, something that he’s been looking forward to for a long time. When the time finally came, Obama showed why a lot of Americans have called him the ‘People’s President’, cracking jokes with Johnson and the rest of the NASCAR constituents.

Continued after the jump.

“Fortunately, we got Jimmy to agree not to do any burnouts or tear up my back yard,” he said. “I also suggested to Jimmy that in exchange for free parking, he should let me take the 48 out for a few laps. He said that was fine, but Secret Service didn’t think it was fine.”

Now, that’s something we would gladly pay to see: Our dear beloved President, burning up the tracks in Jimmie Johnson’s full-customized No. 48 Chevy.

On a more serious note, though, President Obama stressed the importance of following NASCAR, especially during troubled times like this in the auto industry. In an interview with ESPN, the President said: “If somebody’s excited about Nascar, that means they’re excited about cars, and we want to make sure that people know what great American cars are.”