NASCAR could red-flag sponsorship deal related to ‘Let’s go Brandon!’ chant
The NASCAR driver whose victory in a secondtier race last fall inadvertently spawned a coded vulgar insult of President Joe Biden has unveiled a plan to compete next season in a car sponsored by a cryptocurrency that has been spun off the phrase.
But it appears that Woodbridge, Va. native Brandon Brown, 28, who was little known before his Oct. 2 victory in an Xfinity Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, may have jumped the gun in publicizing photos of his No. 68, red-white-and-blue Chevrolet sponsored by LGBcoin, a near-valueless cryptocurrency inspired by the slogan “Let’s go Brandon!”
NASCAR must approve all racecars’ sponsors and paint schemes. According to a NASCAR employee familiar with the governing body’s deliberations, it has not yet approved the LGBcoin sponsorship.
Based on previous comments by NASCAR President Steve Phelps, who has led efforts to make stock-car racing more inclusive, the racing body could be hesitant to grant a green light to the divisive message, however coded.
Political analyst Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, encouraged NASCAR to reject the plan.
“’Let’s Go Brandon’ is nothing more than a rude middle finger to President Biden by Trump supporters — and there’s no question NASCAR fans are disproportionately pro-Trump,” Sabato wrote in an email exchange. “For the most part, NASCAR has admirably tried to disassociate itself from partisan and racist nastiness, so let’s hope they do the right thing and nix this sponsorship deal . . . . This is not the image NASCAR should want to project.”
Phelps, who was asked during his season-ending news conference how he felt about NASCAR being associated with the “Let’s Go Brandon!” chant, called it “unfortunate.”
“We do not want to associate ourselves with politics, the left or the right,” Phelps said. “We obviously have, and we’ve always had, as a sport tremendous respect for the office of the president no matter who is sitting.
“. . . Do we like the fact that it kind of started with NASCAR and then is gaining ground elsewhere? No, we’re not happy about that. But we will continue to make sure that we have respect for the office of the president.”
Phelps added that NASCAR would block any instance in which the phrase was used in conjunction with NASCAR’s logo or trademarks.
It’s unclear if Brown realized that NASCAR must approve sponsorships before his Fredericksburg-based team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, announced Thursday its 33-race deal with the cryptocurrency meme coin LGBcoin.io for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Neither he nor a team spokesman responded to a request for comment.
The news release makes no mention of Biden and characterizes the product, which a disclaimer makes clear has “no intrinsic value” and should not be bought with any intention of resale, as “America’s Coin” that “aims to inspire positivity and unity, grounded in a strong belief of the American dream.”
James Koutoulas, founder of Typhoon Capital Management and the investor behind the coin, called Brown an exemplar or perseverance and “truly America’s Driver.”
“We are proud to support Brandon this season, to help him continue his American dream,” Koutoulas said in the team’s news release. “If we do our job right, when you think of us, and you hear, ‘Let’s Go Brandon,’ you’ll think and feel, ‘Let’s Go America.’”