# Brandon Brown (racing driver)

Brandon Lee Brown (born September 14, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving for several teams including the No. 68 Chevrolet Camaro for Brandonbilt Motorsports.
Brown inadvertently became associated with politics after winning the 2021 Sparks 300, when NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast's misstating of a crowd chant led to "Let's Go Brandon" becoming a political slogan used against U.S. President Joe Biden.

## Racing career
### Early career

Brown first started racing when he was ten, driving go-karts at King George Speedway before moving to dirt track racing, winning the 2006 World Karting Association Mid-South Region Jr. championship. Two years later, he won the Jr. Restricted Light and Heavy Division championships, followed by the VDKA Series and Jr. Restricted Light and Heavy Division championships in 2009. In 2010, Brown began competing in the Whelen All-American Series with family-owned Brandonbilt Motorsports, winning a race and eventually the Virginia Rookie of the Year Award. The next year, he won three races at Old Dominion Speedway.

### NASCAR

In 2014, Brown made his Camping World Truck Series debut at Iowa Speedway, finishing 25th after starting 27th. He made two more starts in the year, with a best finish of 19th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The following year, he attempted eight races but failed to qualify for three. After starting the season with a 29th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he ended the year with a best finish of 14th at Dover International Speedway.
In the 2016 season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Brown finished a career-best fourth place. Brown made his Xfinity Series debut at his home track of Richmond International Raceway in September 2016. Brown increased his Xfinity Series schedule in 2017, with intentions of running ten races in addition to select Truck races.
After driving a full-time Xfinity Series schedule in 2019 for 2 teams, Brown drove the No. 68 Chevrolet for Brandonbilt Motorsports the following year. He made his first appearance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, finishing 12th in the regular-season standings, but was eliminated following the first round.
In 2021, Brown tied his best career finish with a sixth at Daytona, followed by an eighth-place finish at the Daytona Road Course. He improved on his best finish at Phoenix when he finished third after various leaders were forced into the wall on an overtime restart.
At the Sparks 300 at Talladega in October 2021, Brown was in contention throughout the latter part of the race after escaping the first big wreck that took place on lap 88. As the race started late in the day because of the Truck race that was completed just earlier, there was a chance that the race would be called early if another caution had come out as it was starting to get dark. With a push from behind, Brown, who was not in the playoffs, was able to narrowly get ahead of Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier in time when the final caution of the race came out with 13 to go due to another big crash. The race was ultimately called with five laps to go due to darkness, and Brown would score his first career Xfinity Series win in his 114th start.

### Sponsorships

Coastal Carolina University, Brown’s alma mater, served as a primary sponsor on Brown's truck and Xfinity car during the early part of his career.
When his team was struggling to find sponsorship during the 2021 season, Brown made a Twitter video in June 2021, dressing up as a 'used car salesman' in an attempt to promote his team and find available sponsors for upcoming races. The video paid off as Brandonbilt Motorsports announced they had secured enough sponsorship, including one from American PetroLog, a provider of logistics services for the petrochemical industry, as well as cryptocurrency company TradeTheChain.com, to finish off the rest of the season.

## "Let's Go Brandon"

After his first win at Talladega, Brown was being interviewed at the start-finish line by NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast, when many in the crowd began to chant "Fuck Joe Biden." Stavast stated, "You can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's go, Brandon!'" It is unclear whether she legitimately misheard the chant or whether she intentionally misquoted it.
This gave rise to the political slogan "Let's Go Brandon" as a euphemism against Biden. Brown initially responded to the new political slogan with the lighthearted tweet, "To all the other Brandons out there, You're welcome! Let's go us". However, he was privately ambivalent about the phrase, because it overshadowed his Talladega win and threatened to scare off corporate sponsors, who were leery of controversy. His plan originally was to simply ignore the phrase, but as several months passed and it remained in widespread use, he worried that his silence was perceived as a tacit endorsement of the sentiment. Later that month, the Associated Press reported that Brown's Brandonbilt Motorsports team, which is family owned, was struggling to acquire sponsorship as companies were hesitant to support him due to his indirect association with the chant and its political undertones.
In December 2021, he broke his silence on the matter in an interview with The New York Times in which he stated that, though he was a Republican, he wanted "to appeal to everybody" and had "zero desire to be involved in politics". Brown expressed his wishes for the slogan to instead be used in a positive context. He also published an op-ed in Newsweek, in which he took a more mixed stance, stating that he was "not going to endorse anyone", but that he was "not going to hesitate to speak about issues I am passionate about, or the problems we face together as Americans".

### LGBCoin sponsorship

On December 30, 2021, Brown announced that meme coin Let's Go Brandon Coin (LGBCoin) would become his primary sponsor for the full 2022 season. However, the sponsorship was rejected by NASCAR, who added that it had not been approved at the time of Brown's announcement. Brandonbilt Motorsports and LGBCoin's investors disputed NASCAR's statement, citing communications between the team and NASCAR officials, while LGBCoin manager James Koutoulas threatened legal action. Brown eventually signed a two-year personal endorsement deal with LGBCoin.

## Personal life

Brown graduated from Coastal Carolina University in 2018 with a degree in communication; he was also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. The school served as a primary sponsor on Brown's truck and Xfinity car during the early part of his career.
Brown's father and team owner, Jerry, underwent "aggressive" treatment for cancer after being diagnosed during a routine check-up on April 7, 2020. Brown revealed that his father was cancer-free on August 26.

## Motorsports career results
### NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

#### Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results :
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | NXSC | Pts | Ref |
| 2016 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY | ATL | LVS | PHO | CAL | TEX | BRI | RCH | TAL | DOV | CLT | POC | MCH | IOW | DAY | KEN | NHA | IND | IOW | GLN | MOH | BRI | ROA | DAR | RCH 29 | CHI | KEN | DOV | CLT | KAN 25 | TEX | PHO | HOM 23 | 117th | 0$^1$ | |
| 2017 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 90 | Chevy | DAY | ATL 23 | LVS | PHO | CAL | TEX | BRI | RCH 25 | TAL | CLT | DOV 17 | POC | MCH 33 | IOW | DAY 37 | KEN DNQ | NHA | IND | IOW 29 | GLN | MOH | BRI 25 | ROA | DAR 20 | RCH 27 | CHI | KEN | DOV 25 | CLT | KAN | TEX | PHO | HOM | 36th | 110 | |
| 2018 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY 36 | ATL | LVS | PHO | CAL | TEX | BRI | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | HOM 24 | 42nd | 94 | |
| 2018 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 90 | Chevy | | | | | | | | RCH 19 | TAL | DOV 28 | CLT | POC | MCH | IOW | CHI | DAY | KEN | NHA | IOW | GLN | MOH | BRI | ROA | DAR 18 | IND | LVS | RCH | ROV | DOV 22 | KAN | TEX 18 | PHO | | 42nd | 94 | |
| 2019 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY 18 | ATL 13 | LVS 17 | PHO 15 | CAL 15 | TEX 17 | BRI 23 | | TAL 15 | DOV 13 | | POC 13 | MCH 26 | IOW 31 | CHI 22 | DAY 6 | KEN 17 | NHA 16 | IOW 27 | GLN 18 | | BRI 12 | ROA 37 | DAR 33 | IND 28 | LVS 16 | RCH 34 | | DOV 11 | KAN 18 | TEX 25 | PHO 20 | | 15th | 574 | |
| 2019 | RSS Racing | 93 | Chevy | | | | | | | | RCH 20 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 15th | 574 |
| 2019 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 68 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | | | CLT 20 | | | | | | | | | | MOH 24 | | | | | | | ROV 17 | | | | | HOM 13 | 15th | 574 | |
| 2020 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 68 | Chevy | DAY 7 | LVS 11 | CAL 33 | PHO 12 | DAR 13 | CLT 8 | BRI 7 | ATL 12 | HOM 14 | HOM 36 | TAL 11 | POC 33 | IRC 11 | KEN 27 | KEN 13 | TEX 10 | KAN 11 | ROA 12 | DRC 34 | DOV 14 | DOV 16 | DAY 26 | DAR 17 | RCH 18 | RCH 11 | BRI 12 | LVS 15 | TAL 9 | ROV 26 | KAN 13 | TEX 5 | MAR 18 | PHO 12 | 11th | 2170 | |
| 2021 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 68 | Chevy | DAY 6 | DRC 8 | HOM 34 | LVS 11 | PHO 3 | ATL 33 | MAR 27 | TAL 7 | DAR 24 | DOV 10 | COA 26 | CLT 4 | MOH 6 | TEX 13 | NSH 35 | POC 15 | ROA 11 | ATL 31 | NHA 17 | GLN 12 | IRC 34 | MCH 40 | DAY 34 | DAR 28 | RCH 8 | BRI 14 | LVS 22 | TAL 1 | ROV 22 | TEX 33 | KAN 14 | MAR 36 | PHO 20 | 16th | 620 | |
| 2022 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 68 | Chevy | DAY 10 | CAL 11 | LVS 29 | PHO 13 | ATL 18 | COA 20 | RCH 8 | MAR 34 | TAL 30 | DOV 18 | DAR 35 | TEX 15 | CLT 17 | PIR 12 | NSH 11 | ROA 34 | ATL 33 | NHA 3 | POC 13 | | MCH 13 | | DAY 4 | | | | TEX 24 | TAL 33 | | | | | | 17th | 538 | |
| 2022 | Mike Harmon Racing | 47 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | IRC 34 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17th | 538 |
| 2022 | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | 5 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GLN 32 | | | | BRI 38 | | | | | | | | | | | 17th | 538 | |
| 2022 | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | 78 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DAR 29 | | | | | ROV 20 | LVS | HOM | | | | 17th | 538 |
| 2022 | Our Motorsports | 02 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | KAN 17 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17th | 538 |
| 2022 | SS-Green Light Racing | 08 | Ford | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MAR 19 | PHO 37 | 17th | 538 | |

#### Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results :
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | NCWTC | Pts |
| 2014 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY | MAR | KAN | CLT | DOV | TEX | GTW | KEN | IOW 25 | ELD | POC | MCH | BRI | MSP | CHI | NHA 19 | LVS | TAL | MAR 24 | TEX | PHO | HOM | | 46th | 64 |
| 2015 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY | ATL 29 | MAR DNQ | KAN | CLT DNQ | DOV 14 | TEX | GTW | IOW | KEN 25 | ELD | POC | MCH | BRI | MSP | CHI | NHA 27 | LVS | TAL | MAR DNQ | TEX | PHO | HOM 32 | 39th | 93 |
| 2016 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | DAY 4 | ATL 19 | MAR 14 | KAN 12 | DOV 31 | CLT 26 | TEX | IOW 24 | | KEN 20 | ELD 22 | POC 24 | BRI 23 | MCH | MSP | CHI | NHA | LVS | TAL 25 | MAR | TEX | PHO | HOM | 25th | 153 |
| 2016 | MAKE Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | | | | | | | | | GTW 32 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 25th | 153 |
| 2017 | Martins Motorsports | 44 | Chevy | DAY DNQ | ATL | MAR 27 | KAN | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 97th | 0$^1$ |
| 2017 | Brandonbilt Motorsports | 86 | Chevy | | | | | CLT DNQ | DOV | TEX | GTW | IOW | KEN | ELD | POC | MCH | BRI | MSP | CHI | NHA | LVS | TAL | MAR | TEX | PHO | HOM | 97th | 0$^1$ |
$^*$ Season still in progress $^1$ Ineligible for series points