Brandon Brown Discusses Fourth Place Finish in ‘Must Win’ Daytona Race

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown finished fourth in Friday’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona, sparking further uncertainty about his future as a full-time racer with his team, BMS. 

Brown, the racer at the center of the controversial, politically-charged “Let’s Go Brandon” chant that made him indirectly famous, has struggled to land sponsorships for his car this season. The team made a decision earlier in the year to prioritize drivers who have sponsorship money, leading Brown to be held out of a late-July race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

However, Brown had a chance to solidify his immediate future with BMS on Friday, where a win would have landed him in the Xfinity Series playoff field. He came up just short, notching another top-five finish, but seeing his shot at victory evaporate during the race’s overtime shootout. 

“Definitely a must-win if I was gonna be in the playoff,” Brown said after the race, per NASCAR.com contributor Dustin Albino. “The must-win feeling is kind of setting yourself up and show everybody, ‘Look, this kid’s a driver.’ That’s all I wanted to do. That’s all I ever wanted to do is drive and race for wins.

“It’s been a rough year. I just really, really wanted this one,” Brown continued, fighting back tears. 

Brown, who has chosen to be largely apolitical despite the derogatory chant directed towards President Joe Biden that features his name, had a deal fall through with a now-defunct cryptocurrency company that left him with a lack of adequate sponsorship support for his car. While Brown has not discussed his personal political beliefs, he has tried to use the chant to market himself as a driver. The cryptocurrency deal was “Let’s Go Brandon” themed.

“I’m still viewed as a political figure,” Brown told Frontstretch last month.

“I can be viewed as divisive because of the chant. It’s really hard to convince companies that, ‘Hey that’s not me. That’s just what the crowd was chanting’. It does make it hard.”

Brown still has plans to race at Talladega Superspeedway and Texas Motor Speedway later this year with BMS.

• Auto Racing Digest: The Lap Around America Project

For more racing coverage, go to Auto Racing Digest.