Local NASCAR hero rising to the top | Local

“Moving up to the Xfinity Series has really upped the pressure,” said Brown. “It’s only one step away from the big [Monster Energy] Cup Series.”

Brown estimates 90 percent of NASCAR teams call Charlotte, N.C. their home because “being in that town gives NASCAR teams an edge in obtaining parts and services needed for their cars,” he said.

But Brown doesn’t seem to mind going the distance between Charlotte and Stafford, nor does he mind the national attention that his team receives as a result of the distance factor.

“We have to travel six hours to get to Charlotte, but that’s okay,” Brown said. “We’re getting a lot of shout-outs and national recognition from Fox Sports and others pointing out on national television that we’re from here and not from Charlotte, and that we’re a small, family-owned team that started out without the usual corporate backing.”

Brown grew up in Woodbridge, spending most of his childhood racing go-carts throughout the Commonwealth and up and down the east coast.

When he was 15, the Brown family purchased a late-model stock car and one year later, the teenager was behind the wheel of that car racing it at Old Dominion Speedway.

After graduating from C.D. Hylton High School in Dale City, Brown took classes at Northern Virginia Community College while working for his father at Brandonbilt Foundations, a large concrete business in Stafford.

While Brown’s father Jerry continued to provide the financial support for his son’s driving passion, the young driver realized that he needed an alternate plan.

“All I was dreaming about back then was becoming a NASCAR superstar, but just in case things didn’t work out, I needed a fallback. I needed a degree,” he said laughingly.

Brown was accepted to Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and graduated, with honors, in 2018 with a degree in marketing and a minor in communications.

As it turned out, the university became one of Brown’s biggest allies, as well as his team’s primary financial sponsor. They remain so today, and it all happened by chance.

“One race weekend during my sophomore year, I posted a photo of myself on-line wearing a Coastal Carolina hat,” he said. “When I got back to my dorm that Monday, I checked email to see what I had missed from my classes and there was an email from the school’s communication’s department asking if I could meet with them to talk about how the school could help with my racing hobby. During that meeting, they found out that I was driving at NASCAR’s truck level and they came onboard right away as my sponsor.”

In addition to financial support provided by the school, Brown said he was “treated like any other athlete” during his years as a student there.

“I handed in my race schedule to my professors and they assigned me work around that schedule,” he said. “They worked with me all the way. If the track was close, they gave me an extra day. If I had to travel to Kansas or Iowa, they’d give me a few extra days. I am extremely grateful to everyone at Coastal Carolina.”

After his stint in NASCAR’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series, Brown moved up to the Xfinity Series in September 2016, debuting at the Richmond International Raceway. Prior to all of this, Brown had several other noteworthy achievements, including winning Virginia Rookie of the Year honors in 2010 in NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series, taking the checkered flag three times in 2011 at Old Dominion Speedway, and finishing a career-best fourth place in 2016 during the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. But it’s this year that has proven to be Brown’s best so far, where he ranks relatively high in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.

Brandonbilt’s 10 Camaros are currently on the road fulfilling the remainder of Brown’s demanding 2019 race schedule. When it’s over, the team will have visited 24 different tracks stretching from Florida to California. This weekend, Brown is running his Camaro in the Production Alliance Group 300 in Fontana, Calif., and next week, he’ll be in Ft. Worth, Texas for another 300-miler.

Back home in Stafford, Brandonbilt’s garage is a state-of-the-art, 10,000 square-foot facility located off Warrenton Road. The team recently relocated here from their previous location near Stafford’s Adventure Brewing Company. The shop employs about a dozen workers who give it their all to get Brown’s cars ready for a full season of racing.

“When new cars come in, they simply arrive as a chassis with a body on it,” said Scott Sprouse, the team’s marketing and sponsor relations manager.

“We fabricate the framework for the seats and put the steering system in. We basically build the cars from the chassis up,” he said. We also set the car up for each track it will be on, do the brake work, the gearing, all of the decals.”

Brown feels his cars this year are “better than ever,” and added, “It’s a mixture of a lot of little things, like team communications, the guys are more comfortable with what they’re doing, the equipment is better, especially for me as the driver.”

But, some of the work that goes into preparing the cars for the track cannot be done locally. Much of that work is done in Charlotte, a town that many people view as NASCAR’s Capitol City.

“Engine builds, inspections, tolerances; we have to go outside to get that done,” said Sprouse. “That usually means a trip to Charlotte.”

But even though there is a distance factor, the team has no plans to leave Stafford.

Brown explained, “We’ve always been based in this area. We’re established here. Most importantly, the team we have has been with us the entire time that we’ve been in business. We can’t just pull up, move out and relocate everyone and their families.”

As for what local fans can expect next from the Brandonbilt team, there are several factors that the team is considering.

“The next level (Monster Energy Cup Series) is one of those things that might take a while,” Brown said. “We’ve got to turn some more sponsorship dollars to do that. So, for now, we’re focused on improving where we’re at, chasing down a lot more checkered flags, and improving where we are.”

Getting into the big leagues costs big money and Brown estimates sponsorships at that level could be in the $8-10 million range.

“We’re always hoping for the big corporate sponsor and we’re doing everything we can to get there,” he said. “It could be tomorrow, it could be five years from now. You never know.”

As for Brown’s personal future plans, there are really no surprises here.

“I love to race. I would love to continue driving race cars for rest of my life,” he said.