Brandon Brown

Brandon Lee Brown (born September 14, 1993) is an American former 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 former 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. 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, Brown 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. 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 was family owned, was struggling to acquire sponsorship since 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.

On December 30, 2021, Brown announced 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. Koutoalas filed a lawsuit against NASCAR in 2025, though a jury ruled in NASCAR's favor.

Following the 2024 United States presidential election, Brown tweeted, "So I guess after today the phrase dies and y'all can sponsor me again, thanks!!!" He has not raced in NASCAR since 2022.

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. 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 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 RCH29 CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN25 TEX PHO HOM23 117th 01 2017 90 DAY ATL23 LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH25 TAL CLT DOV17 POC MCH33 IOW DAY37 KENDNQ NHA IND IOW29 GLN MOH BRI25 ROA DAR20 RCH27 CHI KEN DOV25 CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 36th 110 2018 86 DAY36 ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI HOM24 42nd 94 90 RCH19 TAL DOV28 CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR18 IND LVS RCH ROV DOV22 KAN TEX18 PHO 2019 86 DAY18 ATL13 LVS17 PHO15 CAL15 TEX17 BRI23 TAL15 DOV13 POC13 MCH26 IOW31 CHI22 DAY6 KEN17 NHA16 IOW27 GLN18 BRI12 ROA37 DAR33 IND28 LVS16 RCH34 DOV11 KAN18 TEX25 PHO20 15th 574 RSS Racing 93 Chevy RCH20 Brandonbilt Motorsports 68 Chevy CLT20 MOH24 ROV17 HOM13 2020 DAY7 LVS11 CAL33 PHO12 DAR13 CLT8 BRI7 ATL12 HOM14 HOM36 TAL11 POC33 IRC11 KEN27 KEN13 TEX10 KAN11 ROA12 DRC34 DOV14 DOV16 DAY26 DAR17 RCH18 RCH11 BRI12 LVS15 TAL9 ROV26 KAN13 TEX5 MAR18 PHO12 11th 2170 2021 DAY6 DRC8 HOM34 LVS11 PHO3 ATL33 MAR27 TAL7 DAR24 DOV10 COA26 CLT4 MOH6 TEX13 NSH35 POC15 ROA11 ATL31 NHA17 GLN12 IRC34 MCH40 DAY34 DAR28 RCH8 BRI14 LVS22 TAL1 ROV22 TEX33 KAN14 MAR36 PHO20 16th 620 2022 DAY10 CAL11 LVS29 PHO13 ATL18 COA20 RCH8 MAR34 TAL30 DOV18 DAR35 TEX15 CLT17 PIR12 NSH11 ROA34 ATL33 NHA3 POC13 MCH13 DAY4 TEX24 TAL33 17th 538 Mike Harmon Racing 47 Chevy IRC34 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 5 Chevy GLN32 BRI38 78 DAR29 ROV20 LVS HOM Our Motorsports 02 Chevy KAN17 SS-Green Light Racing 08 Ford MAR19 PHO37

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 Pts Ref 2014 Brandonbilt Motorsports 86 Chevy DAY MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW KEN IOW25 ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA19 LVS TAL MAR24 TEX PHO HOM 46th 64 2015 DAY ATL29 MARDNQ KAN CLTDNQ DOV14 TEX GTW IOW KEN25 ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA27 LVS TAL MARDNQ TEX PHO HOM32 39th 93 2016 DAY4 ATL19 MAR14 KAN12 DOV31 CLT26 TEX IOW24 KEN20 ELD22 POC24 BRI23 MCH MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL25 MAR TEX PHO HOM 25th 153 MAKE Motorsports GTW32 2017 Martins Motorsports 44 Chevy DAYDNQ ATL MAR27 KAN 97th 01 Brandonbilt Motorsports 86 Chevy CLTDNQ DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points