NASCAR’s Brandon Brown embraces ‘Let’s Go Brandon’: ‘I hear them, even if Washington does not’

The “Brandon” of “Let’s go…” fame has found his own political voice.

And NASCAR driver Brandon Brown is skeptical of Washington and politicians.

In a column Monday in Newsweek, Mr. Brown made his first public comments about his name being appropriated into a vulgar chant about President Biden, saying he understands many people’s frustrations with politics, politicians and with Washington D.C. in particular.

While Mr. Brown wrote that he’s first and foremost an auto racer who will mostly, to paraphrase another recent cultural meme, shut up and drive, he has been “trying to understand” the chant and “I think I understand.”

“I have no interest in leading some political fight. I race cars. I am not going to endorse anyone, and I am certainly not going to tell anyone how to vote,” he said.

“But I’m also no longer going to be silent about the situation I find myself in, and why millions of Americans are chanting my name. I hear them, even if Washington does not,” he said.

While acknowledging that “politics has never been that interesting to me,” Mr. Brown said that “like most, I have always had the impression that politicians were likely the cause of more problems than they were the solutions.”

Mr. Brown said that he has come to learn in recent weeks that “millions of people are struggling right now and are frustrated … and wondering why their government only seems to make it worse.”

“Listen, I buy more gas than most. I don’t like that $4 per gallon has become the norm. I know the cost of everything is rising and I know first-hand that making ends meet can be a struggle for middle-class folks like me.”

The chant began after NBC interviewed Mr. Brown after he won his first NASCAR race, at the Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 2.

Thousands of fans in the Alabama stadium were spontaneously chanting “f— Joe Biden” and the NBC reporter falsely told the TV feed that they were chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!” and the meme was born.

Mr. Brown hadn’t spoken on the subject since the NBC clip took off, because he “was afraid of being canceled by my sponsors, or by the media, for being caught up in something that has little to do with me.”

He said this upcoming NASCAR season will “99 percent” be about winning races.

But “those who thought this would all go away appear not to understand why millions of people are chanting my name,” he said.

He concluded his column by saying he would continue “to spotlight issues that are important to me and to millions of Americans across the country” and also rework his now-famously chanted name.

“Let’s Go America.”