Kelli Stavast
Kelli L. Stavast is an American sportscaster who works for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for both their NASCAR (in both the Cup and Xfinity Series) and IndyCar Series coverage. She has reported for numerous other forms of motorsports throughout her career, as well as diving at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and freestyle skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongchang. She is most well-known though for conducting an interview with Brandon Brown after his victory in the 2021 Sparks 300. The interview ended up being the origin of the anti-Joe  Biden “let's go Brandon” chants after a large group of fans began chanting “fuck Joe Biden” during the interview. Stavast said to Brown during the interview that the fans were chanting “let's go Brandon”, which caused the phrase to be a chant of protest against both Joe Biden and the mainstream media in the United States. Early life and education. Stavast was raised in Denver, Colorado. She attended Chapman University where she graduated in 2002 with a broadcast journalism degree. Career. In 2015, Stavast joined NBC's returning NASCAR coverage as a pit reporter. She was announced to  be joining the broadcast team on January 22, 2014, along with Marty Snider. They would be joined by Dave Burns and Mike Massaro (announced later in the year) as NBC's four pit reporters for the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series. Stavast was the only original member of the NBC broadcast team hired without a prior experience covering NASCAR, although she did report for other forms of motorsports for NBC, Speed, and ESPN including the Grand-Am, American Le Mans Series (and those two series when they merged to become IMSA), Stadium Super Truck Series, and Lucas Oil Off Road  Racing Series. She was also a reporter for NBC coverage of diving at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as freestyle skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongchang. Stavast interviewed skier Madison Olsen. On October 2, 2021, Stavast interviewed Brandon Brown after his victory at the Xfinity Series' Sparks 300, while the crowd was chanting "Fuck Joe Biden" in the background. Stavast quoted the chant as "Let's Go Brandon"; it is unclear whether she misheard it or whether she intentionally misquoted it. After footage of the interview went viral, the phrase "Let's Go  Brandon" became a political slogan and a meme to mock president Joe Biden as a minced oath. Personal life. Stavast moved to Las Vegas where her then-fiancé Gavin was living when she got engaged in 2016. The couple were introduced to each other through Kurt Busch, who is a close friend of Gavin's.