Brandon Brown, the NASCAR driver whose interview prompted the popular “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan, has revealed the difficulty he now faces finding corporate sponsors.

Although Brown did not create the slogan, nor does he endorse it, the association itself has made sponsors hesitant to put their name behind him. While Brown is an open Republican, he chooses to keep politics strictly out of his racing career… or, he tried to anyway. Now, despite careful attempts to keep his political opinions under wraps, the “Let’s Go Brandon” tie has made it nearly impossible for him to separate himself from the political spotlight.

“It got extremely difficult for us,” Brown said in an interview with Sports Business Journal. “[I]t’s been tough to connect with partnerships just because it’s kind of viewed as a ticking time bomb: ‘What is he doing to choose or say and how would that effect our consumer base?’ It’s too much of a risk. I understand it on their side but it’s made it really hard to tie everything down.”

Brown finds frustration with the new association that comes with his name. After working so hard to be as successful as he is now, he’d rather people be talking about his career-related accomplishments instead of a political meme. Brown has made it clear he wants to focus strictly on racing and leave politics out of it as much as possible moving forward.

‘The unfortunate part is it’s my name and my career that are at stake and the risk is high. If I do something wrong in this arena, my name as a driver falls off very fast,” Brown said.  “Even a career in NASCAR if I didn’t make it as a driver, trying to get another job in the community, I’m always going to be the “Let’s Go Brandon” guy. I’m always going to be known for that and how I handled this situation.’