President Obama spoke to the media today while honoring Jimmie Johnson his 3-peat as Sprint Cup Champion. While there he talked about other things, including the importance for the Big Three staying committed to NASCAR. Here is how it went down on ESPN today…

Q – Why is it important for the Big Three auto manufacturers to remain committed to NASCAR?

President Obama – I think that it’s about as good advertising as you can get. 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, and obviously it’s understandable at a time when GM has gone through some tough times, that they may need to cut back sponsorships briefly, but over the long term, if we look 5-10 years out, I think they’re going to come back stronger than ever, and I think their association with NASCAR makes a great difference.

He also had some fun with everyone with some very quick jokes.

You know, it is not every day that we have a championship stock car parked out on the South Lawn.  Fortunately, we got Jimmie to agree not to do any burnouts or tear up my backyard.  I also suggested to Jimmie 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.