Legendary Car Racing Driver Hugs Trump, Deeming Him ‘The Best’ but Netizens Call It ‘Disgusting'

Former President Donald Trump made a spectacular entrance at the renowned Coca-Cola 600, flying over the North Carolina racetrack in his private aircraft. As per the Daily Mail, on Sunday, May 26, Trump attended the annual 600-mile NASCAR Cup Series points race. The event, held over Memorial Day weekend, took place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Republican leader mingled with legendary NASCAR driver Richard Lee Petty, nicknamed 'the King'. 

The video of the same has since gone viral on X with MAGA supporters gushing over the epic moment. User @BoLoudon wrote, "Legendary race car driver, Richard Petty, aka 'The King', tells Trump he's 'The Best.' Rightful President Trump has made history as the first president ever to attend this event. Meanwhile, Biden is vacationing. Biden doesn't want you to share this!" However, others criticized Trump, calling him out as 'Disgusting'. 

X user @AzLongIlander slammed Petty for supporting the former president, "Lost all respect for RP!" @Backlas19210628 echoed, "Hate to tell you, Richard...Trump doesn't give a shit about you." Chiming in, user @jhamb03 mocked, "Oh wow, some hick that turned left for his career says Trump is The best! Alert the press!!!!!!" @chrissmith1770 echoed, "He keeps going where he already has votes...just do not see where he gained any of the votes he needs."

As per Essentially Sports, the 2024 GOP frontrunner met with other NASCAR racers, including Austin Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress. Endorsing his support for Trump, Petty shared the historic moment on his Instagram handle with the caption, "Never know who you’re going to run into at the racetrack! @realdonaldtrump." In a 2016 interview with Autoweek, Petty had some strong views about Trump becoming the President.

"The deal with Trump is that nobody knows deep down what his decisions might be. They wouldn’t concern just the people in the United States. They would concern Russia and Korea, too. Those people wouldn’t know when he’d pull the plug on them, and that’s good. We need that (uncertainty) because it’s gotten like: 'Well, the United States isn’t going to do anything, so we’ll just do what we want to do. At least, they’ll keep sending us money.' Well, if nothing else, Trump would quit sending money, and they would dry up," the racing icon asserted.

As per AP News, when NFL players demonstrated against standing up for the national anthem, the Hall of Fame driver backed Trump by arguing, “Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period. What got ‘em where they’re at? The United States.” When asked if there is a possibility of a Richard Petty Motorsports protester facing termination for the same, he responded with “You’re right.”