UPDATE: Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 12:15pm
Following NASCAR’s decision to not approve LGBCoin.io as a primary sponsor for Brandon Brown, Max Marcucci, a spokesperson for the organization, has released the following statement:
NASCAR did not speak with brandonbilt motorsports prior to making their decision to rescind the approval and multiple attempts to set-up a conversation to address this matter went unacknowledged.
The bottom line is that brandonbilt motorsports followed the standard process for sponsor and paint scheme approval and received approval from a nascar employee empowered to make those decisions, and who makes those decisions on a regular basis. This official then confirmed and reiterated that we have received approval in a phone conversation after the announcement was made.
we are disappointed that NASCAR leadership has chosen to rescind approval of this sponsorship and feel they should have the confidence to own their decision to backtrack and not gaslight a team or a driver.
Like every team, we rely on productive and friendly working relationships at all levels of NASCAR. unfortunately, NASCAR leadership’s handling of this situation now threatens to strain our relationships and places us in an incredibly awkward position, yet again.
Late Tuesday Evening, NASCAR officially announced that LGBCoin.io – a new decentralized meme cryptocurrency inspired by the politically-fueled chants following Brandon Brown’s first win at Talladega — would not be approved as the primary sponsor of Brandon Brown and Brandonbilt Motorsports.
The original announcement of the sponsorship agreement was made on December 30, with the cryptocurrency announced as the 33-race sponsor of Brandonbilt Motorsports for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
However, later that day, NASCAR confirmed to Motorsport.com that the sponsorship had not been approved by the sanctioning body and that the team “jumped the gun” on their announcement. Brandonbilt Motorsports disputed the claims made by NASCAR, in a statement released on January 2, which included:
BRANDONBILT MOTORSPORTS SUBMITTED OUR MOST RECENT SPONSORS AND PAINT SCHEME TO NASCAR, FOLLOWING THE STANDARD APPROVAL PROCESS THAT WE HAVE UNDERTAKEN MANY TIMES BEFORE WITHOUT ISSUE. WE RECEIVED WRITTEN APPROVAL ON THE SPONSORS FROM A NASCAR RACING OPERATIONS OFFICIAL ON DECEMBER 26, 2021. THE TEAM SUBSEQUENTLY MOVED FORWARD WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY AFTER BEING PROVIDED WITH THIS APPROVAL.
THE SPONSOR APPROVAL WAS UNAMBIGUOUS–THE FIRST FOUR WORDS OF THE EMAIL FROM NASCAR STATE, ‘THE SPONSORS ARE APPROVED…’ THE ONLY FEEDBACK OFFERED WAS RELATED TO MINOR GRAPHIC DESIGN CHANGES TO ENSURE LEGIBILITY ON THE TRACK AT 170MPH.
However, just minutes before NASCAR confirmed to media that the sponsorship would not be approved, James Koutoulas, LGBCoin.io HODLer, posted a Tweet that displayed the correspondence between the team and NASCAR, which unambiguously stated: “The sponsors are approved […],” before providing the team with additional details needed to have the paint scheme approved.
The @brandonbrown_68 went through proper @NASCAR approval process and received formal written approval. If @nascar revokes approval, we will bring suit upon them on behalf of all @LGBcoin_io HODLers who were damaged by their reliance on @nascar written approval & #cancelnascar https://t.co/Tt2dIhWhkS pic.twitter.com/3ooI4VTSMG
— James Koutoulas ?? (@jameskoutoulas) January 5, 2022
In his Tweet, Koutoulas was clearly upset, saying: “Brandon Brown went through proper NASCAR approval process and received formal written approval. If NASCAR revokes approval, we will bring suit upon them on behalf of all LGBCoin.io HODLers who were damaged by their reliance on NASCAR written approval and #cancelnascar.”
TobyChristie.com has reached out to NASCAR for comment on Koutoulas’ Tweet but has yet to receive a response at the time of publishing.
Further context: NASCAR told Brandonbilt in November it wouldn't approve any Let's Go Brandon sponsorship. Team submitted request over Christmas w/o specifying it was a political thing (just listed as crypto). NASCAR initially missed that part, but was never going to be approved. https://t.co/4DEobLQusD
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) January 5, 2022
This is a developing story, more details will be added when/if they are obtained.
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