Brandon Brown: The hero America didn't know it needed

NASCAR fans are very familiar with the vagaries of racing at Daytona and Talladega, the two longest tracks on the stock car circuit. At 2.5 and 2.66 miles long respectively, the tracks produce high-speed competition. NASCAR's safety efforts to slow the drivers, most notably years of use of carburetor restrictor places, create tight packs of cars, often resulting in spectacular and damaging crashes that can take out half the field.

The unpredictable nature of racing at the two tracks, and the ever-present threat of rain at outdoor events in Florida and Alabama, has resulted in a number of drivers getting their first victories there. Trevor Bayne's only career win in the top-tier Cup series (formerly known as Winston Cup, later Sprint Cup and now Monster Energy Cup) came in the 2011 Daytona 500. Kentuckian Michael Waltrip won four career Cup races, two Daytona 500's and two at Talladega. (By contrast, his three-time series champion brother Darrell, one of NASCAR's all-time winningest drivers, won only one Daytona 500). And it took the late Dale Earnhardt, truly a legend in the sport, two decades of trying before he finally won a Daytona 500 despite his absolute mastery of the two tracks in other races.

But Talladega's fall race weekend a couple of weeks ago gave many in the country a new rallying cry that transcends racing. The outcome of the second-tier Xfinity Series race turned out to be bigger than the Cup Series win two days later by black driver Bubba Wallace at the same track where the "noose in the garage" hoax had occurred a year earlier.

Brandon Brown drives for a small, family-owned race team in the Xfinity Series, which can be thought of as the AAA league if the Cup Series is the big league. He hails from northern Virginia on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. He had never before won in the Xfinity Series until he found himself leading the Sparks 300 on Oct. 2, when the race was put under caution and eventually ended due to rain.

First-time winners always make for a feel-good story, but this tale definitely didn't end there. Once the race was made official, Brown was interviewed by a commentator for NBC sports. As the interview progressed, a group of fans started chanting a vulgar anti-Joe Biden phrase that's becoming increasingly common at public events. It was obvious what the fans were yelling, but for some reason, the reporter either couldn't hear, or had been instructed by producers to try to talk over or explain away the chant: "As you can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's Go Brandon." Making matters worse, the camera cut to the scene of the fans in the stands, amplifying their chant. Listen and see for yourself:

The ripple effect happened immediately. Reaction was instantaneous. Suddenly, "Let's Go Brandon" became a family-friendly way for people not thrilled with President Biden's administration to express that sentiment without the profanity,  either fully voiced or abbreviated as "FJB." Memes took over the Internet. A cottage industry sprung up, with shirts, stickers, and flags adorned with the slogan available for purchase within the week.

For his part, Brown seemingly took the incident in stride. He chuckled after the reporter's comment, as if admitting he knew that's not at all what they were chanting. He tweeted out a humorous message to all the guys who share his name. "To all the other Brandon's out there. You're welcome. Let's go us!" Other than that, he doesn't appear to have weighed in on the matter, or said whether or not he supports the "Let's Go Brandon" political movement.

Who knows what will happen to Brown's racing career?Will he find more success, or will his record perpetually show just one victory in the second-highest-level stock car circuit?Will he remain more or less an unheralded figure, or will we learn more about this 28-year-old inadvertently thrust into the national political spotlight by a race reporter's comment?

But whatever becomes of Brandon Brown, he's now the hero America needed in this moment of national decline. For the next three years, anytime someone says "Let's Go Brandon," everyone will know exactly how they feel about America's current leadership and direction.

Thank you, Brandon Brown and NBC Sports. You're exactly what this country was looking for.