NASCAR rejects sponsor LGBcoin Crypto, team vows to fight back

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Last week, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Brown decided to back the slogan that would have hurt his racing career by choosing to put it on his car. His team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, announced a partnership with a cryptocurrency called LGBcoin on December 30, although NASCAR later said it never endorsed the sponsor. The racing series officially rejected the teams’ submission on Wednesday.

NASCAR is authorized to prohibit participants from racing if it determines that any advertising, sponsorship or similar arrangement to which the competitor is or will be a party is detrimental to the sport, NASCAR, the series sponsor or the promoter for any reason whatsoever. , by part of the rulebook shared on Twitter by reporter Bob Pockrass. Racer reports that the teams’ application was not made through the proper portal and was informed in writing without NASCAR understanding the full nature of the context around LGBcoin:

The move comes as officials returned from vacation to go through the official approval process, which the team claimed to have already done. However, a NASCAR spokesperson told RACER that the team’s submission, which was sent out on Christmas Day, was not made through the correct portal and was improperly approved without a good understanding of LGBcoin. . In addition, the sponsorship submission was also not clearly defined.

This portal was apparently not live at the time Brandonbilt Motorsports submitted the LGBcoin sponsorship for approval; rather, the team tried to get it by email. James Koutoulas, a hedge fund manager and LGBcoin HODLer (who I guess passes for an official title; he speaks on behalf of LGBcoin to the media for what it’s worth) took to Twitter, sharing captures of e-mail screen between public relations staff and NASCAR. Racing Operations and committing to file a complaint against NASCAR:

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He has also spent the last 14 hours or so threatening to sue various media organizations that covered this saga in ways he didn’t like:

I guess it was next on the list, so look forward to it. Either way, an email from Mac MacLeod, who runs public relations firm Fast Lane Media, to NASCAR can be seen in Koutoulas’ tweet. The purpose of the sponsors is stated simply because it is a cryptocurrency. MacLeods’ email also mentions that the paint scheme portal did not work and no races for 2022 were listed because, as we now understand, next season’s portal was not in. line on Christmas day. A response from Dale Howell of NASCAR Racing Operations begins by saying that the sponsors are approved.

According to Koutloulas, NASCAR instructed Brandonbilt Motorsports to let Lets Go Brandon, spelled out, out of the car. He told USA Today that approval was dependent on using the acronym, rather than the full sentence, and the team would have complied.

In November, Brandonbilt Motorsports reportedly met NASCAR, per Racer, and was told the sponsorship would not be approved. The timeline of these events is unclear, so we reached out to NASCAR and Brandonbilt Motorsports for clarification.

One of the key questions here is whether written approval in an email counts the same way it would have if it had gone through official channels. But even then, I’m not sure if that would matter, unless there is something in the NASCAR rules that prevents the series from gaining approval after it is granted. There is a precedent for NASCAR allowing cars to show up on the circuit and then forcing them to cover offending sponsors. We’ve also asked NASCAR for information on this and will update this story with whatever we learn.

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