MOORESVILLE, N.C. – NASCAR informed Brandonbilt Motorsports Tuesday evening that the sanctioning body will not approve the team’s sponsorship from the LGBcoin.io cryptocurrency.
The team made the sponsorship announcement on Dec. 30, but the news was quickly followed by the revelation that NASCAR had not formally approved the sponsorship or paint scheme.
In the days since, it was revealed that the sponsorship and scheme had not gone through the proper approval process, with both being approved without proper understanding of what LGBcoin was.
NASCAR race teams are required to submit sponsors and paint schemes through an online portal, where they will then be approved by a NASCAR official. The online portal was not open for the 2022 season at the time Brandonbilt Motorsports submitted it, with the team instead submitting it via email.
LGBcoin is decentralized meme cryptocurrency that was created to play off of the “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan. The “Let’s Go Brandon” phrase stems from Brown’s maiden NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last fall. The cryptocurrency was slated to sponsor Brown for the entire NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
Prior to NASCAR denying the sponsorship James Koutoulas, LGBcoin founder, tweeted that should the sponsorship be denied, a lawsuit could be brought against the sanctioning body.
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
The team later issued a statement following NASCAR’s decision to reject the sponsorship and car design.
“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,” Max Marcucci, Brandonbilt Motorsports spokesperson said in a statement.
“The bottom line is that Brandonbilt Motorsports followed the standard process for sponsor and paint scheme approval and received approval from a NASCAR official empowered to make those decisions, and who makes those decisions on a regular basis. This official then confirmed and reiterated that we had 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.”