On October 2, 2021, Brandon Brown of Woodbridge, Virginia outlasted some major late-race crashes and drove to the darkness to capture his first win in the NASCAR xFinity Series. As he finished his post-race burnouts on the frontstretch, the NBC TV crew moved up towards the car. As Brown emerged from his car, the crowd cheered. As the NBC reporter began the interview, the rowdy Alabama crowd’s cheers shifted to a profane, political chant. Rather than apologize for the explicit language, the reporter exclaimed that the crowd had been chanting the now-infamous “Let’s Go, Brandon” phrase. From that point forward, “Let’s Go, Brandon” swept the nation.
Crowds at all sorts of different sporting events started chanting the phrase. The pregame show at the 2021 World Series, or at college football games just to name a few. Shirts, hats, and even flags bearing the phrase (some with unauthorized NASCAR stylization) were sold. All the while, Brown and his small, family-owned race team kept quiet over the whole situation, that is, until late last month.
Brown himself wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek.com detailing what life was like for him in light of the chant: “I was afraid of being canceled by my sponsors,” Brown wrote. “In my world, there is no car to drive without sponsors”. Evidently, Brown was attempting to distance himself from the phrase. Yet, ten days following that publication, Brandonbilt Motorsports, Brown’s team, announced a new, full-season sponsor for the #68 car in 2022.
In an era where cryptocurrency is on the rise, a handful of different cryptos have set foot in the NASCAR world. Landon Cassil found himself in arguably the best ride of his career for 2022 thanks to Voyager, a crypto broker. However, a few “meme-coins”, like DogeCoin, have also found their ways into the realms of motor racing. While not nearly as big as BitCoin, Doge seems to have captured the imagination of many.
Yet, there remain a select few currencies that to many look like blatant scams. That brings us to LGBCoin (Let’s Go, Brandon Coin). While the site itself seems to promote the finer points of decentralized trading, there is a message at the very bottom of their home page stating “LGBCoin has no intrinsic value and you should not purchase it with any expectation that you will be able to resell it”. In other words, it’s a waste of money. On December 30, 2021, ten days removed from Brandon Brown’s Newsweek piece, Brandonbilt Motorsports posted a video on all their social media platforms welcoming LGBCoin as their full-time sponsor for 2022. The video also included the proposed paint scheme for the season, fitted with a red white and blue color palette with stars across the sides.
As the sun set on the 30th, a tweet from Jim Utter, a credentialed NASCAR reporter, emerged saying: “NASCAR says LGBCoin sponsorship for Brandon Brown has not been approved. The team ‘jumped the gun’ in its announcement”. Skepticism over this mysterious cryptocurrency grew exponentially in the racing community. Six days following the sponsorship announcement and Jim Utter’s subsequent tweet, Bob Pockrass, another well-known NASCAR reporter, confirmed that LGBCoin would not appear on Brandon Brown’s car in 2022. NASCAR had confirmed their denial of the sponsor.
The root of the controversy stems from reports that NASCAR had approved the sponsorship before any announcements were made. In the eyes of many, NASCAR ‘changed their mind’ on the sponsorship. Other reports are that Brandonbilt ‘pulled a fast one’ and announced the sponsorship before it was confirmed in an effort to sway NASCAR’s decision. The controversy doesn’t end there, either. After these announcements, LGBCoin HODLer James Koutoulas stated that he’d bring lawsuits against NASCAR.
But why did NASCAR turn away a company willing to put lots of money into a race team? No real reason has been revealed yet. Many speculations are that other sponsors, like Chevrolet or xFinity may have stepped in and put pressure on NASCAR. Other speculations include the reactions on social media. Did NASCAR delay their approval/denial decision because of the response of the online fanbase? Additionally, NASCAR told Brandonbilt that they would not approve any sort of “Let’s Go, Brandon” sponsorships and has tried to disassociate themselves from the slogan. Adam Stern, another well-respected writer in the NASCAR industry, reported that NASCAR was set to ban political sponsors of any sort within the next few weeks. Again, NASCAR has not yet revealed a reason, but those are possible theories.
As for the team, Stern reported that Brandonbilt was now unsure of their plans for the season as “LGBCoin was the only serious offer the team had”. In my eyes, I think Brandon Brown and his team deserve to find sponsorship. Since that day in October, they’ve done just about everything right. Many people saying the chant barely even know who Brandon is, creating even more separation between the person and the phrase. Yet, there remain a few that know the connection, and companies don’t want that association with the political controversy.
The 2021 Sparks 300 was life changing for Brandon Brown in more ways than one. His first NASCAR win was overshadowed by the now infamous “Let’s Go, Brandon” chant that has taken the political world by storm. It cost him potential sponsorship opportunities and potentially could cost him his race team, all at no fault of his own. Will Brandon get sponsorship before the season starts? Follow me on Twitter and let me know your thoughts on the situation.
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