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Eagle-eyed fan spots Jimmie Johnson NASCAR hat in ‘White Lotus’ season 3

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•04/01/25•

NickGeddesNews

Jimmie Johnson
Peter Casey-Imagn Images

NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson was featured in a season three episode of “The White Lotus” on Max. Well, not Johnson himself, but rather an accessory deeply associated with the seven-time Cup Series champion.

One fan with an eagle eye spotted a Lowes Racing hat with the No. 48 on the back. Johnson drove the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports from 2001-2018. It’s a dead giveaway the character in the popular streaming show was repping Johnson, who approved of the hat selection.

“Great hat choice, #SamRockwell!” Johnson tweeted. “What do you think, @realmonaghan? #WhiteLotus.”

Duke ‘not happy’ about viral ‘White Lotus’ scene with university branding, undecided on lawsuit

Johnson loved his brief cameo in “The White Lotus.” Duke University did not. Per Front Office Sports, the university is “not happy” with the portrayal of their name involving one of the show’s characters in Timothy Ratliff. That comes after the fifth episode of this current season where Ratliff, who’s wearing a Duke shirt in the scene, abuses drugs and contemplates suicide, to the extent of writing a note and putting a gun to his head, due to an investigation into his business.

“Our only goal is to point out that all artists need to be mindful of the impact when they depict something as consequential as suicide with a college brand,” Frank Tramble, a school spokesperson, told Front Office Sports. “We take mental health and suicide very seriously, and using any collegiate brand in this way trivializes a real and tragic problem.”

That was not the only comment. Tramble also addressed the matter elsewhere.

“Duke appreciates artistic expression and creative storytelling,” Tramble said in a separate story by The New York Times. “But characters prominently wearing apparel bearing Duke’s federally registered trademarks creates confusion and mistakenly suggests an endorsement or affiliation where none exists.”

Front Office Sports‘ Dennis Young noted it’s “not quite clear what (Duke) is seeking from HBO or…Warner Bros. Discovery.” Because of this, he didn’t address any potential lawsuits, edit requests, or otherwise regarding the show. Even if they did file, though, three experts cited in the two separate articles at Front Office Sports and The New York Times believed that Duke would be unsuccessful in any suit.

HBO did not provide a comment to Young in the story at Front Office Sports. No one else did either from out of Durham besides Tramble.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.