NASCAR, some people view it as a hobby, others view it as a lifestyle.

Lawson Murphree has been a die-hard NASCAR fan for as long as he can remember.

“It’s kinda crazy cause it started off as a family thing cause my entire family was all into racing before on both sides of the family,” Murphree said. “On my mom’s side of the family, they were all Dale Earnhardt fans, and then on my dad’s side of the family, they were all Mark Martin fans cause they were mostly from Arkansas. I was kinda thrusted into it and I kinda carved my own path.”

Just like any other sport, NASCAR has athletes. Each driver is assigned a number to race for the following week. For Corey Lajoie, it’s the number seven car. NASCAR fans have a favorite driver they root for each week. Some root for Chase Elliott. Some root for Denny Hamlin. For Murphree, he roots for a champion.

“When I was three years old, I started talking about this guy named Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus,” Murphree said. “He drove the 48 car. Which at the time, I was like really drawn to as a three-year-old and I don’t know why. The color blue. I loved the color blue on his car. This was before he would go on a few years later to be become arguably to become the greatest driver of this generation winning seven championships.”

Murphree’s passion for NASCAR extends into his friendship with Hailey Peterson. The two became friends in high school when they shared a class together.

“Most of his money goes towards NASCAR shirts. I’m pretty sure he’s got a lot of those little toy cars in his collection,” Peterson said. “Apparently, his whole entire basement is filled with Jimmie Johnson stuff.”

Peterson, who grew up watching NASCAR, fell out of touch of the sport throughout the years until Murphree got her interested in the sport again.

“I loved NASCAR when I was a kid,” Peterson said. “My dad and I will watch it and I was a big Tony Stewart fan then, after a while, I just drifted from it. In 2020 when COVID happen, NASCAR is all that we had. So Lawson was like: “Hey! You should just watch it.” And low and behold, it was fun.”

NASCAR isn’t just a hobby for Murphree, it’s a lifestyle.