Update: According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, NASCAR has not yet approved the scheme.
Update- Jan. 2, 2022: Brandonbilt Motorsports issued a statement.
“We are very aware and appreciative of the process required to approve sponsors and paint schemes and would not attempt to circumvent that process.
Brandonbilt Motorsports submitted our most recent sponsors and paint scheme to NASCAR, following the standard approval process that we have undertaken many times before without issue. We received written approval on the sponsors from a NASCAR Racing Operations official on December 26, 2021. The team subsequently moved forward with an announcement only after being provided with this approval.
The sponsor approval was unambiguous–the first four words of the email from NASCAR state, ‘The sponsors are approved…’ The only feedback offered was related to minor graphic design changes to ensure legibility on the track at 170mph.
We will continue to work with NASCAR and look forward to resolving this matter and clearing the air as soon as possible.”
LGBcoin, a cryptocurrency meme coin, has joined Brandon Brown for the full 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Brandonbilt Motorsports announced Dec. 30.
Red, white and blue colors featuring the LGBcoin logo will adorn the No. 68 Chevrolet in every NXS event next year.
Last season, several crypto companies sponsored Brown in multiple races, including Baby Dogecoin and Trade The Chain.
“Having the financial support of LGBcoin is incredible, especially at such a pivotal time in our team’s growth as we work to build to the next level of competition,” Brown said in a team release. “From wondering if we would have the financial means to continue to compete, to my first major win (at Talladega no less), to becoming an unintentional meme, this past season was a rollercoaster. The support of sponsors like LGBcoin empowers us to be as competitive as possible and I’m looking forward to competing hard on the track in 2022.”
I’m excited to welcome @LGBcoin_io aboard my No. 68 Chevrolet Camaro as our 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series full season primary partner!
Press release: https://t.co/yWfkonk8vO pic.twitter.com/s8PkfCtnVD
— Brandon Brown (@brandonbrown_68) December 30, 2021
Brown won his first Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway in October and tallied three total top fives and nine top 10s in 2021.
He has one win, four top fives and 16 top 10s in his NXS career.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
Congrats and Let’s Go Brandon (for real)….
Good one!!!
Anybody want to bet NASCAR cancels this?
I don’t want to bet but it sure would set an interesting precedent. In reality, we all know what it references, but technically it’s something any driver should be able to do; use their personal name on their car. So if they do cancel it, would that mean that no one could use “Let’s Go Tommy” or “Let’s Go Joey”? If they do and it ends up in court, it would really be interesting to see how it all worked out.
I think the quandary NASCAR faces is the fact they allowed BLM on Darrell Wallace’s car and after Phelps said they weren’t going to delve into politics, to cancel LGB would be on it’s face pure hypocrisy. But I believe they have sunk to the level were any publicity is good publicity.
Or allows it and blurs it out…
Corey LaJoe had a Trump 2020 car sponsorship. Bubba Wallace had BLM on the hood.
No reason they should deny a driver a sponsor.
No reason? How about all NASCAR execs being in the ” Joe and Kam” fan club?
He’d better have the total amount in real money in his account before the season starts.
I feel for the guy. Finally break through and get a win, only to have something completely out of his control take place that essentially makes him untouchable in today’s marketing environment for sponsors. What a bag-over-the-head-kick-in-the-nuts deal for him.
It sure feels like Brandon has embraced the meaning of the expression and is trying to exploit it for all it’s worth.
Nowadays things are pretty weird in the US and this is just one example …
Some nit wit lib reporter starts this and then for no fault of his own, it starts looking like Brandon is toxic to sponsors. Then some inovative sponsors come along and want to capitalize on something your stuck in the middle of, and give you a full seasons worth of money. If I were Brandon,I would have embraced that too. Then Nascar originally gives the OK and now it looks like after some snowflakes probably get their tighty whities in a bunch, they are ready to squash this. Look up pathetic in the dictionary and you will see the Nascar logo.
I don’t blame Kelli Stavast for it at all. In that situation, I think she was just doing her best to keep the live TV stream family friendly and help Brandon refocus from the distraction to complete the interview. She was put on the spot knowing that could be heard in the background, and had to think quick to wrap up so they could cut to another segment. Unfortunately, it blew up from there, but she could not have known that would happen in the moment. How NA$CAR and sponsors have reacted / treated Brandon since is disgraceful and pathetic.
“…I think she was just doing her best to keep the live TV stream family friendly…”
Really??!!!
I think the cow was already out of the barn by then. What she basically did was call everyone watching an idiot. We have ears and a brain. Who could possibly think it was Let’s Go Brandon just because she said it? It was clear as day. For her to think anyone watching would buy that load of crap is pretty much calling them idiots.
Bill B, Let’s see, you had 3 hours between post to come up with your ‘calling everyone an idiot’ comment. Its pretty far of the mark for what might have been going through her head at the the time. And lame to think she was trying to pull one over on you.
Given Stavast had just seconds to respond, she did a better than average job of making the best out of the situation. And we are still talking about her! Win for her.
I did like you ‘cow out of the barn’ cliché.
She should have said nothing or apologized, not piss on everyone’s head and tell them it’s raining (how’s that for a cliché).
What would you call someone who heard something and then, said they heard something else because some talking head on TV told them so? IMO, they’d have to be an idiot.
BTW, not sure where you came up with the 3 hour deal. I read the comment and replied within 3 minutes.
BTW2, I have heard many sports interviews or live footage where a curse word makes it on the air, I have never heard a commentator try to cover it up by telling viewers that they heard something else. They usually just apologize to viewers that it made it onto the air.
BTW3, if she had said nothing or just apologized it would have been over and the whole USA wouldn’t still be talking about it would they? I stand by my opinion, she handled it very unprofessionally.
It is an emotional topic, and while I do not support Biden I still disagree that Kelli intentionally called or implied anyone were idiots. I also do not know what (if anything) her producers may have been telling her in the headset. Maybe she didn’t come up with it at all. Or maybe she did. Either way, I don’t think she intended to do anything more than refocus/redirect the situation towards a quick end to the interview (Brandon was clearly distracted by the chant). She certainly wasn’t going to clarify what they were actually chanting for the TV audience. She’d have been crucified by her own media, mercilessly fired, and living under an overpass if she had.
I am not saying she intentionally implied anyone an idiot, I am saying that was a by-product of the decision she made. As I said, if you clearly hear something, you would have to be an idiot to let some one tell you that you heard something else. And I also realize that hindsight is 20-20. Still, I have heard lots of expletives make it erantly on air and I have never heard a professional commentator use the tactic of trying to convince everyone that they heard something else. They either apologize or ignore, otherwise you call even more attention to it.
Very well stated Bill B.
I was watching that interview and I never heard FJB. I guess I’m the idiot. I was listening to him/her. It was the next day I heard about this other story from a non NASCAR fan.
If you watch the video, there was a pause before she said what she said, and there might have been someone telling her in her earpiece to say the infamous LGB. Regardless, the real stink is Brandon got associated with it and now the cancel warriors along with Nascar want to end his new sponsorship and basically his racing career.
BTW response- Jeremy posted at 10:09 am you posted at 1:19 pm. That’s 3 hours and the 3 minutes you admit to is much longer than Stavast had.
My point was there wasn’t a lot of time to figure out the ‘right thing to do’. I appreciate your 20-20 hindsight comment later in this thread.
I’ll agree that ignoring chant would have been the most professional thing to do.
I will say the fans chanting curse words (not to mention bringing politics into the mix) in the back ground of what they should have known was a live broadcast does a great disservice to the many great fans of NASCAR. Those fans should be banned from all NASCAR events.
Geez, you think NASCAR fans were the first to chant F the president on live TV. Soccer fans chanted the same when Trump was president…..
https://www.thewrap.com/womens-world-cup-fifa-soccer-fans-chant-f-trump-fox-news-segment-video/
I don’t like it anymore than you do but that’s the world we live in. Grow thicker skin.
Well there you have it. NASCAR has confirmed they will not allow that sponsorship.
Hopefully Brandon makes more from the lawsuit than he would have received from the sponsor – and actual dollars rather than fantasy ones.
Nascar are cowards. Hopefully a sponsor will step up and support Brandon this season.
There was really never a doubt in.my mind that Nascar wasn’t going to deny them.
I’d have to agree – but thus far to my knowledge, NASCAR hasn’t officially made a statement and all I’ve seen reported is that they denied based on a procedure technicality. So this should be simple to remedy and get approved. If they deny based on the whole “detrimental” to the sport nonsense – then they are playing politics (Bubba BLM? OK, LaJoie Trump 2020? OK, Brown LGBcoin? Not OK… huh?). Hopefully that would backfire on them and make the issue even higher profile. I’d go all in if I was Brandon, take it national with a big GoFundMe campaign. I’ll gladly kick in.
Well, there was something on Jayski’s yesterday stating that Brandon and team were told last November not to use Lets Go Brandon but it has since been removed. Or maybe I was hallucinating again.
Thanks Bill – I did see that too but forgot to mention it. I’m just saying many things are in he said/she said mode right now – but until NASCAR is put on the spot to formally make a statement, it’s still all speculative. BTW – I don’t see “Let’s Go Brandon” anywhere on the car – is it actually spelled out anywhere?
I don’t know how it would appear on the car but I bet if he said the LGB stood for Lesbian, Gay and Bi, NASCAR would be rushing to approve it. (In fact that’s what I first thought it stood for when I saw the headline on this article).
Ha – you’re so right. All they’d have to do is add the TQ+ and NASCAR would be in woke heaven.
I know it’s Nascar’s playground an Nascar’s rules. But after the confederate flag ban, noose-gate, and now this Brandon sponsor retreat, I can’t figure out what business model out there says it’s good to alienate your majority for the few. I know it’s woke this and woke that. It saddens me that some of my best memories were involving Nascar and now that I’m retired, I have to scratch off some of my bucket list.
By the way ” Let’s Go Nascar”!
Bill B, it might have a little something to do with NASCAR’s partnership with Carolinas LGBT+Chamber of Commerce. NASCAR announced this on Jan. 6th. Doubt we see it on any car.