One of the biggest personalities in short track racing, and also one of its better success stories, is set to make his Truck Series debut at North Wilkesboro.
Butterbean.
Brenden Queen, who currently competes full-time in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, will make his NASCAR national touring debut in the No. 1. It’s such a rewarding story because Queen is 26 and was largely resigned to being a local Late Model driver near his home track at Langley Speedway.
It was really all Queen could ever ask for, winning track championships and marquee races like the Hampton Heat, because his family never had NASCAR money. Even racing a full-time CARS Tour schedule was out of the question.
But a series of chance circumstances has given Queen a chance to shine, opening doors that he never thought possible until recently, all leading to his Truck Series debut for the team owned by NASCAR veteran David Gilliland.
Queen, who genuinely just loves racing, started going to a nearby Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, North Carolina to help out a family friend, John Staton, who a Virginia businessman who moonlights behind the wheel of a Dirt Late Model.
Eventually, Staton put Queen behind the wheel of that car, and ‘Butterbean’ was winning in everything he raced across dirt and pavement. Staton grew so fond of Queen that he wanted to elevate Queen’s pavement program, helping him get a full-time CARS Tour ride with Lee Pulliam Performance, one of the top programs in the discipline.
They won a great deal, nearly won the championship but fell short to JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil, which led to the next development of this story, when Toyota Racing Development entered into a relationship with the Pulliam team.
Between Toyota and Staton, everyone involved with Queen wanted to get him a spotlight on the third biggest stage and that culminates with his Truck Series debut at legendary North Wilkesboro, where he won in CARS competition in 2023.
“I am tickled to death,” Queen told Sportsnaut before the CARS Tour season opener on March 10.
Queen is already starting to do his homework in advance of May. It helps that he has experience at Wilkesboro and even won, but the Truck Series is just a completely different racing platform than a Late Model Stock.
“I’ve been back and forth to the shop and am leaning on David and Tricon,” Queen said. “I’ve talked to Corey Heim, which helped because you know he came from Pulliam too, and am trying to get some pit stop practice in.
“Because that’s the biggest thing .. if I can limit those self-inflicted wounds, that will give me the best chance to make my day better. I’d rather give up a spot on pit road than 30 from a penalty.”
He is going to get a simulator day at Toyota too.
“I’m working really hard on my end to be the most prepared I can when I get into the track,” Queen said. “Physically, mentally, spending as much time with the team at the shop. It’s all a really exciting time for me.”
What will help Queen is that the Late Model Stock has become more and more aero sensitive over the past several years. He is no stranger to all the ways drivers and teams are working to manipulate air, even on tracks as short at North Wilkesboro.
“It’s still different because it has the bed and so much side force but at the end of the day, it’s a race car and we have to figure it out and figure it out quickly.
“I do feel a leg up having run and won at Wilkesboro but I still am going to be laser focused to learn all I can. I’m most excited because it’s just a good team and good equipment.
“It’s up to me to perform.”
And it’s not just on the race track but off it too. Queen has worked really hard to build a social media following, Bean Nation, and has been amongst the most popular drivers in his discipline.
His love of Waffle House and chocolate milk is both authentic but also well known. The key will be attracting that big affable energy to partnerships to make this more than a one off.
Is it just a one off?
“You hope not, right,” Queen said. “You always hope to catch someone’s eye that’s like, ‘hey, this guy has something and we want to give him more chances’ or something like that.
“A win for me that night will be completing all the laps, no penalties or incidents, and have a chance for a top-10 because if you do that, you have a chance to win if things shake out the right way.
“It’s no different than a Late Model race and if I can have a shot to do all those things, I’ll be tickled.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.