Requiem for Brandon Brown

Requiem for Brandon Brown

By Brian H Cotnoir

On October 1, 2022, Brandon Brown made what--in all likelihood--would be his last start in his #68 Brandonbilt Motorsports.   Almost one year to the day where he shocked the NASCAR world by winning his first career victory in the Xfinity Series for his family-owned team, his once promising NASCAR career went out with a whimper finishing 33rd out of 38 drivers.    What should have been the greatest day of the Virgina drivers' life in 2021 would be become marred in controversy and he would unintentionally become a focal point of a Right-Wing Political Ideology, that his career could never recover from.  

The first time I remember hearing Brandon Brown's name was when legendary college basketball announcer, Dick Vitale declaring that Brown would win the season opening Truck Race at Daytona in 2016.  Now, I value Dick Vitale's knowledge and opinion on College Basketball, but when I heard this on ESPN, I remember thinking "What the hell does Dick Vitale know about NASCAR?   Does he really think this kid driving part-time for his family run team is going to win the biggest Truck Series race of the year?".  Well, he almost did.  He didn't lead any laps in the race, but still finished an impressive 4th place.

Over the next few seasons, I casually began following Brandon Brown's career and his surprise Top 10 finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.  After he scored a 3rd place finish at Phoenix for his family run team, I really started following him.  He didn't have a big budget or big sponsors, and his team only had four full-time employees and they were competing for wins!   What really sealed my appreciation for Brandon Brown was when he made a promo video, pretending, he was a used car salesman looking for sponsorship.  After that, I knew I had found a new favorite Underdog to root for in NASCAR.   Every week I'd watch the Xfinity Series in hopes that Brandon Brown and his family run team would find Victory Lane.    And then he did it:   At the fall Talladega Race in 2021, Brandon Brown was declared the race winner and I was over the moon, because he had finally achieved his goal.  To me the really most memorable quote from that day was hearing Brown shout over his radio "We did it Dad!"; it was a beautiful moment, and then the crowd at Talladega ruined it.

I could hear it as clear as a bell during the Winners Interview the fans at Talladega going "F*ck Joe Biden" and then NBC Reporter Kelli Stavast did what I think any decent reporter, especially one on a Major National Network, would have done to cover it up: she said that the crowd was chanting "Let's Go Brandon".   I don't blame Kelli Stavast at all for saying the crowd was saying "Let's Go Brandon", but I don't her, Brandon Brown, or anyone could have imagined that it would have become as big of a deal as it was.    Shortly thereafter I began seeing "Let's Go Brandon" signs, t-shirts, and decals everywhere.

That was it: the fate of his career and team were sealed.   What corporation was going to sponsor a driver and risk alienating 50% of their clientele?  NASCAR didn't help Brown's situation ever: I have zero evidence to back up this claim, but I believe NASCAR purposefully altered the results of The Most Popular Driver Award because I believe the Dank Meme power of the "Let's Go Brandon" chant would have been enough to get him the votes to win the award.   I base this off of the fact that NASCAR doesn't report the total votes each driver receives for the Most Popular Driver Award, and I think that if Josh Wise can win the Fan Vote for the All-Star Race with sponsorship from DogeCoin then why couldn't Brandon Brown get enough votes for Most Popular Driver?  Another thing NASCAR did that impacted Brown's ability to find sponsorship was forbid him from listing the LGBCoin sponsorship.  Now, I know absolutely nothing about "Crypto-Currency", but I think it was unfair of NASCAR to rescind the approval for his sponsorship was wrong for a couple of reasons.  1.)  You had drivers in the Xfinity Series like Landon Cassil who were also sponsored by Crypto-Currency companies.  2.)  If NASCAR says one company can't sponsor a driver, then it could make other companies fearful of sponsoring the same driver.   3.)   Any attempts of NASCAR to distance themself from the "Let's Go Brandon" chants or disassociate themselves from Conservative Politics is entirely hypocritical.  For years we saw drivers and teams like Premium Motorsports, GoFas Racing, Korbin Forrester, Mike Harmon, and Tim Veins run "Trump for President" decals on their cars with no pushback.  Hell, Trump was even the Grand Marshall for the 2020 Daytona 500!  Oh, and let's not forget the incident that happened when former NASCAR CEO Brian France name dropped President Trump during his DUI arrest! I'm not saying NASCAR isn't allowed to have a change in political ideologies, but they could have done a lot more to help Brandon Brown and his team out, and I wish they would have gone as hard to find him sponsorship and support him, the same way they turned out for Bubba Wallace after the racial backlash he faced following the Confederate Flag ban at all NASCAR tracks.

Brandon Brown was and is still a hero of mine, because he reminded me of the old days of NASCAR that I grew up with, when a guy and his buddies could buy/build an old Busch Series car and enter it at tracks near their house.   If I ever won the lottery, you could bet that one of the first things I'd do is start a Modified Team with my father, and we'd go racing all the way around the East Coast!   Brown is not a bad person, or a villain, or even a Right-Wing Looney; he's a red-blooded man who got to live his dream of working and driving his own race cars, and just as he was reaching the mountaintop it was cruelly taken away from him for no good reason.   

I know life isn't always fair, and sometimes bad things happen to good people, but this story has absolutely broken my heart, and if it was any other driver that would have won (especially one driver from a big team, and with big sponsorship money) they would have had lawyers out the wahzoo who would have been able to squash a "Let's Go [Driver's First Name]" from appearing on T-Shirts and Signs.

I don't know what the future is going to hold for Brandon Brown or his race team, but all I know is he didn't deserve any of this negative backlash.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History

Image
The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History An Article by Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Cup History, I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Xfinity History, and now today I’d like to present you the 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History. 10.) Citgo, Wood Brothers Racing The Wood Brothers are one of the oldest teams in NASCAR, and in the late 80’s early 90’s they left quite the impression on NASCAR fans with the Citgo Paint Scheme which was piloted by drivers Dale Jarret, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip.   Citgo eventually left the wood brothers and sponsored Jeff Burton at Roush Racing, but it was a truly iconic sponsor with that famous number twenty-one 9.)    Skoal Bandit, Harry Gant Harry Gant earned the nickname “Mr. September” when he won 4 straight Winston Cup Races (and two Busch Series) races in September of 1991, and he did it all behind the wheel of the Iconic Skoal Bandit race car.
Read more

Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History

Image
Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History By: Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in NASCAR, and now I’m here to talk about the Ugliest.   Sometimes a paint scheme looks bad because of whose sponsoring the car, and other times it’s a real bad color combination, but whatever the reason these are some of the most hideous Paint Schemes to have ever graced a NASCAR track. 10.)   Dave Marcis, Prodigy paint scheme This one is so ugly, that it’s kind of cool.   For me the big issue is the combination of Purple & Green, and the Neon Orange numbers make it a little better, but this car is still looks like a disaster. 9.)     Joey Logano, AAA Insurance paint scheme Joey Logano has had a number of awesome paint schemes while driving for Roger Penske, however this red, white, and blue monstrosity is not one of them.    I think Logano and Penske should call AAA Insurance and see if they can use their policy to give this paint scheme a complete
Read more

Another 10 Awesome NASCAR Paint Scheme's that you (may have) forgot about

Image
Another 10 Awesome NASCAR Paint Scheme’s that you (may have) forgot about By: Brian Cotnoir 1.)   Kevin Lepage, Hype Energy I still have never had a can of Hype Energy, but I do I remember this paint scheme driven by Kevin Lepage in the Busch Series in the 1990s.   Lepage would score his 1 st career win in the Busch Series with this paint scheme at the 1996 finale at Homestead. 2.) Stanley Smith, Interstate Batteries Long before Interstate Batteries became a mainstay at Joe Gibbs Racing, they sponsored another driver, Stanley Smith.   I honestly wish Gibbs would have kept this scheme over the one he had with Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, JJ Yeley and Kyle Busch 3.)   Bill Elliott, Burger King Despite having a long-time sponsorship with McDonald’s that lasted several seasons, Bill Elliott drove the #00 car for Michael Waltrip Racing with sponsorship from rival Burger King at the 2006 Brickyard 400.   This is one of the better Burger King designs I’ve seen in NASCAR.   4.
Read more