Despite the president calling for a boycott of Goodyear tires, his campaign’s NASCAR vehicle must race with the tire this summer.
The reason? NASCAR has an official partnership with Goodyear, as Goodyear is the “Official Tire of NASCAR.”
Go Fas Racing general manager Mason St. Hilaire told Fox Business that the choice is either drive with Goodyear tires, or no tires at all.
“We just have one way to run them,” St. Hilaire told FOX Business. “It’s either those tires or no tires. We don’t have much of a choice. There should be two. I don’t know if you should just have one. You’ve got to keep something for the competition, right? Putting another one in would probably be a little bit of fun, both for cost and competition.”
The Trump 2020 car has been driven by Corey LaJoie this summer. The relationship with Go Fas Racing and the car’s sponsor, Patriots of America, is for nine races this season.
Trump called for the boycott on Wednesday after reports accused Goodyear of banning hats with Trump’s campaign slogan from being worn by employees. Goodyear responded saying images purporting to be from Goodyear did not come from Goodyear’s corporate office. But the company did acknowledge, however, that employees are discouraged from supporting political campaigns while working.
“The visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it part of a diversity training class,” Goodyear said in a statement. “To be clear on our longstanding corporate policy, Goodyear has zero tolerance for any forms of harassment or discrimination. To enable a work environment free of those, we ask that associates refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”