Brown had been relatively unknown while racing since 2014 in NASCAR’s two developmental series and had never won until Talladega. His euphoria in the aftermath dimmed as the slogan shot from meme to mainstream fodder. Brown largely stayed out of the fray.

“My goal was to stay silent and hope that it went away,” he said. “Obviously, it got legs of its own and people started putting words in my mouth.”

Brown granted few interviews. But he said he received “an overwhelming amount of hate” on social media as #LGB turned into a political football he wasn’t prepared to handle.

“For me, a big goal was and still is to change the narrative of what LGB means,” he wrote last month in a statement. “I would like it to become a constructive voice for those like myself, who land somewhere in the middle and have views that align with both sides.”