NASCAR winner goes viral for a really weird reason

First-time NASCAR Xfinity Series race winner Brandon Brown is suddenly known more for his post-race interview than his actual victory.

As a result of darkness and the fact that Talladega Superspeedway does not have lights, NASCAR was forced to end Saturday night’s Xfinity Series race at the track a few laps early.

With that, Brandon Brown became the second first-time winner of the weekend, just a few hours after Tate Fogleman secured his first career Truck Series victory.

And a few minutes later, Brown would go viral for something he literally had nothing to do with.

As Brown was being interviewed by NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast on the frontstretch of the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama, a chant broke out from fans in the stands.

“As you can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Let’s go Brandon,’” Stavast said.

But that wasn’t what was actually being chanted (see video), and with that, “Let’s go Brandon” became somewhat of a meme on social media.

And of course, this is probably what Brown is going to be known for moving forward.

Anyone who has been following college football — or politics — knows what was really being chanted (it’s not like this is even close to being some kind of Laurel vs. Yanny thing).

Plus, NASCAR initially posted the interview on Twitter, but later deleted it without providing a reason why when pressed by reporters.

This in itself has caused some to question whether Stavast, who has not commented about the matter, actually didn’t know what was being said or was simply trying to downplay what the fans were saying, not just because of the obvious political aspect of referencing a certain former vice president but because of the NSFW language being used.

Either way, lost in the aftermath of Brown’s winning interview is, ironically, the fact that Brown won the race. He was one of three first-time winners at Talladega Superspeedway this past weekend, something that had never happened at any track on the same weekend in NASCAR history.

Bubba Wallace ended up securing his first career Cup Series victory in a rain-postponed race which took place and Monday and was cut short due to more precipitation.