Shifting allegiances, or just gears?

People could be forgiven if they did a double-take upon seeing coverage of NASCAR personalities being greeted by President Obama at the White House on Wednesday.

The NASCAR drivers on hand have made $113,625 in federal campaign contributions since the early 1980s - all to Republican candidates and party committees, a Politico analysis of federal campaign finance records found.

Nine of the 12 drivers atop the current Sprint Cup standings were at Wednesday's gathering. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman were at Bristol Motor Speedway preparing for Wednesday night's racing.

The campaign of Obama’s Republican rival in 2008, Sen. John McCain, received $1,000 each from Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip, according to Politico. Johnson, winner of the last three Sprint Cup championships, Waltrip and four-time points champion Jeff Gordon each wrote checks to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s rival campaign for the GOP nomination.

Giuliani and McCain campaigned at NASCAR races last season, but Obama did not.

Petty, a seven-time champion, has been a Republican office-holder at the local level and was an unsuccessful candidate for N.C. secretary of state.

In North Carolina, where the stock car racing company has offices and most of the race teams are based, Politico noted that the campaigns of Sens. Elizabeth Dole, Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth - all Republicans - received financial support from the NASCAR figures.

Contributions from those invited to the White House on Wednesday:

1. Darrell Waltrip: $60,625

2. Richard Petty: $23,450

3. Dale Jarrett: $6,200

4. Kurt Busch: $5,000 *

5. Jeff Gordon: $4,300

6. Tony Stewart: $4,000

7. Greg Biffle: $3,500

8. Jeff Burton: $3,000

9. Jimmie Johnson: $2,300

10. Kurt Busch: $1,000

11. Bobby Labonte: $250 *

12. Terry Labonte: $250 *

* Contributions made by racing companies associated with drivers to party committees before the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act banned corporate contributions to parties.