NASCAR has opened up the door for more controversy

Given the development of a recent sponsorship deal, NASCAR has found itself in a controversial situation that promises to get worse.

LGBcoin.io announced earlier this week that they will be serving as the primary sponsor of Brandon Brown’s #68 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

LGBcoin is a cryptocurrency meme coin on the Ethereum blockchain playing off the “Let’s Go Brandon!” phrase made famous after Brown won the Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in early October. According to a release, it is a patriotic coin “dubbed ‘America’s Coin’ (that) aims to inspire positivity and unity, grounded in a strong belief of the American dream.”

We all know that the actual chant from the crowd was not “Let’s go Brandon!”, but that is what viewers were told during the live post-race broadcast.

And with that, “Let’s go Brandon!” became a viral meme.

The phrase has effectively been used as the replacement for the political “FJB” chant that was actually being chanted after gaining popularity across the country at other sporting events, specifically at college football games.

Brown himself stayed pretty quiet about the meme, knowing that it could negatively impact his career — despite the fact that he had absolutely nothing to do with how it originated, aside from doing his job and earning the first victory of his career.

But earlier this month, he opened up about the whole situation in a Newsweek article, noting that he intends to steer clear of politics but that he also hears and understands the frustrations of those who use the chant. Additionally, he noted the negative impact it could have on sponsorship moving forward.

Unfortunately, this impact may be felt in a way that it wasn’t anticipated.

There was some confusion leading up to the LGBcoin announcement. The team initially stated that NASCAR had approved the paint scheme.

However, this wasn’t actually the case, and we may not know if it will be approved for a couple of weeks.

NASCAR could very well not approve, as this news comes amid speculation that the sport will ban political sponsorships starting in the 2022 season.

Past political sponsorships include but are not limited to “Trump 2020” and “Black Lives Matter”. During the 2020 season, the Cup Series saw the former on Corey LaJoie’s car and the latter on Bubba Wallace’s car.

These developments, specifically the possibility that LGBcoin will not be able to be on Brown’s car after all, have already led to widespread criticism directed at NASCAR.

For weeks, we’ve heard about how “Let’s go Brandon!” was going to prevent Brown from getting sponsors and totally destroy his career.

Now he actually lands a full-season sponsor — and NASCAR might effectively take it away from him for political reasons?

NASCAR, in general, has tried to steer clear of the “Let’s go Brandon!” controversy. They made one statement about the matter toward the end of the 2021 season, denouncing the political aspect of the phrase and noting that they will be coming after those who are illegally using their trademarked bars in apparel featuring it.

But are they really going to imply that this phrase can only mean one thing — something political — by canceling this deal?

It leads to the big question: what, exactly, is a “political sponsorship”?

Where does the line get drawn?

Are other sponsors going to be classified as “political sponsors” and denied the right to sponsor a car because their CEOs take a stand on a political issue or their companies give to certain causes?

Brown made clear in his article that he doesn’t want to be political, and that he wants to unite the country and turn what has become a controversial “Let’s go Brandon!” into a uniting “Let’s go America!” The same sentiment was shared when the sponsorship announcement was made.

I understand that sometimes statements like this are easy to make when it’s clear what side one is on. It’s that whole “moral superiority” complex (or, in most cases, misconception). But at no point during this process has Brown aligned himself with one side or the other.

In the current political climate, people will interpret what they want to interpret and read what they want to read; that’s not a reflection on the 28-year-old Woodbridge, Virginia native.

It really boils down to this: if NASCAR cancels this sponsorship, it’s because they are choosing to see politics where they don’t exist. If they don’t, they’ll be accused of ignoring politics where they do. No matter which side wins out, this isn’t going to be pretty.