NASCAR driver’s kids thought everything in this store was free. He set them straight

NASCAR Cup Series driver Michael McDowell had to break the news to his kids:

No, he told them at a Love's Travel Stop on their way to the beach for a family vacation, nothing in this store is free for the taking.

His kids thought everything was free, because didn't dad own the store? The name, after all, is on the hood of his No. 34 Ford race car.

His children had urged McDowell to stop at Love's this week when they saw the sign, McDowell tweeted Monday night.

"Kids wanted to stop at Daddy’s store because we won’t have to pay for anything," McDowell tweeted. "Had to break the bad news to them that it was not mine and we will have to pay for everything. 'Put the stuffed tiger back!'"

His tweet included two crying emojis.

McDowell didn't say in his tweets which Love's Travel Stop his family stopped at.

McDowell started 26th and finished 21st at Sunday's Overton's 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

"The team did a great job — strategy, pit stops and everything," McDowell said on his website. "We took a 25th-place car and almost ran top-20, so I'm pretty happy with that. We've got work to do to find speed, but the execution was great today. We got the most out of our Love's Travel Stops Ford."