NASCAR driver Brandon Brown wasn’t so sure the old saying “all publicity is good publicity” was true when his name became associated with an anti-President Biden chant this year.
Brandon Brown won his first Xfinity Series race at Talladega in October.
(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
After winning his first Xfinity Series race at Talladega in October, fans could be heard chanting “F— Joe Biden” in the background during a televised interview, but NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast told the audience they were saying “Let’s go, Brandon.”
Many Biden critics and Trump supporters later adopted “Let’s go, Brandon” as their rallying cry, which caused much consternation for the 28-year-old Brown, who was concerned about how it could affect his racing and sponsorships.
Fans chanted "F— Joe Biden" during a Brown’s post-race interview.
(Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Brown has now published an op-ed in Newsweek explaining how it affected him and how he plans to use his newfound fame to address issues important “to millions of Americans across the country.”
“All the advice I got from those around my racing career was to stay quiet after that now-famous interview. No one knew how my sponsors would react and, in my world, there is no car to drive without the sponsors,” Brandon wrote.
He added that politics never really interested him, but that he has the impression that politicians do cause more problems than they solve.
“Racing at 200 miles per hour doesn’t give me a lot of time to think about politics. And even if it did, I have always preferred the roar of the engine to the roar of my voice.”
Brown told the New York Times that he is a Republican who votes, but didn’t reveal for whom and doesn’t plan to get involved with endorsing any candidates. However, he said in the op-ed that he has spent recent weeks trying to learn what the “Let’s go, Brandon” thing is all about.
Brown won the Sparks 300 under caution after the race was shorted from 113 laps to 107 laps due to darkness.
(Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
“I understand that millions of people are struggling right now and are frustrated. Struggling to get by and struggling to build a solid life for themselves and their families, and wondering why their government only seems to make it worse. People have a right to frustration – even anger,” Brown wrote.
He added, “I hear them, even if Washington does not,” and that he plans to highlight issues that matter to him and “the problems we all share as Americans.”
Brown closed the essay with his own chant, “Let’s Go, America.”
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Brown’s team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, has not announced full plans for the 2021 season, but Alex Mascioli, founder of the cryptocurrency data service Trade the Train that sponsored Brown’s car for several races in 2020, Tweeted, “I love our team, I love my partner’s, I love our driver” in response to the publication of the op-ed and interview.
