Upon finishing fifth in his Truck Series debut in May at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Brenden Queen was congratulated by several NASCAR notables but one of the first to his still occupied window net was Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series crew chief Cliff Daniels.
The praise came first but the education would come later.
Before becoming master strategist, chief engineer and race car whisper for Kyle Larson, Daniels was a lot like Queen in that he raced Late Model Stock Cars around the Virginias and Carolinas with aspirations to make to the highest levels of the sport.
It was through that shared background that Daniels first met and befriended the Queen family and forged a relationship that continues to this day.
“I’ll be curious to see if Cliff remembers it the same way I do because I was a little bit younger,” Queen told Sportsnaut over the weekend.
They remembered it identically and it comes down to a shared relationship with racing enthusiast Mack McKee, who sponsored both Daniels and Queen during their formative years driving in the discipline.
“I want to say it was the 2017 or 2018 Thanksgiving Classic at Kenly, where I drove their backup car,” Daniels said of the marquee race at Southern National Motorsports Park. “I got to hang out with the whole team and family and instantly became a fan of Brenden.”
Queen remembers that entire week fondly. It was indeed the 2018 race.
“Back then, it was a blur but we texted a lot and it boiled down to he was going to drive my backup car,” Queen said. “We got to bond over that. It was my 21st birthday that week and he was at the shop every day so we went to lunch that week and that was a lot of fun, too.
“It was the first time anyone had driven one of my personal cars. We had a rental program but they would bring their cars and we would manage it. That was the first time that was someone was in my seat and we flipped the number from my 03 to a 30 for him.
“From there, we got to be buddies and we’ve never stopped talking.”
Queen credits Daniels, even after that race, for helping him and longtime racer and crew chief Phil Warren advance their program from an engineering standpoint.
“Cliff knew Phil from back in the day too but he really helped us get our program better at Langley,” Queen said. “A lot of the pointers and suggestions, ideas he thought we should try, actually came around the time we started winning races and championships up there.
“I think he was really responsible for pointing us in the right direction.”
Daniels is legitimately a friend and fan of the driver called Butterbean, too.
“He’s got such an infectious personality but he’s also just a really good racer,” Daniels said. “He stays humble but hungry at the same time and it’s been a lot of fun to watch him from afar these past couple of years. I say from afar because I’m not at most of those races but we also have a very under the radar relationship.”
They text back-and-forth frequently.
Even though his weekends are occupied with the Hendrick No. 5 team, Daniels is still a fan of Late Model Stock racing and watches as many races as he can. Queen says he’s grateful for their friendship but also the honesty that comes with it.
Every NASCAR fan knows how succinct Daniels can be with Larson while under pressure and Queen says his friend can be just as clear to him when they debrief over a Late Model race.
“What I love about Cliff, beyond being a great guy and great friend that I can talk to about anything, is that I can always trust him to call me out on my bull,” Queen said. “If I do something stupid, he is going to tell me.
“He will text me and say, ‘I saw that and this is what we need to do next time.’
“He’s a constructive criticism guy and I need that, right? You don’t need to be told how right you are all the time in this sport. I am wrong a lot and Cliff will always tell me ‘be better’ and ‘do this better.’ He says this wouldn’t have happened, if you did this better.”
Queen recalled a CARS Tour race last summer at Dominion where there was a run-in with Carson Kvapil and Daniels told him the entire exchange would have been avoided if he executed his restart better.
“We go out for lunch sometimes too and he challenges me in all the ways I need to be better and it’s really cool that he cares enough to believe it me, to want me to succeed but is also that big brother will tell me when I need to get it together,” Queen added.
Daniels admitted that ‘I have wondered along the way if Brenden ‘would stub his toe too many times’ before adding ‘but he hasn’t’ because the decision making has improved every season along the way.
“I tell him to race hard for the win, but don’t wreck a guy, all those things,” Daniels said before mentioning the same race at Dominion. “I know there was that infamous race at Dominion with him and Carson. You can argue either side of that but I’ve always been proud of Brenden that he wasn’t the guy to just go in there way over his head and completely wipe a guy out.”
That was the one time that Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt compelled to call Queen and give him an ear full too.
“He’s a hard racer,” Daniels said. “There are obviously situations that every racer will face and that was one of them but I feel like he improves every week when it comes to managing those choices as he becomes a contender each week.”
To wit, Queen is grateful that Daniels manages him the same way you hear on Sundays over the radio with Larson.
“It’s the same,” Queen said with a laugh. “But really, Cliff is a really important person in my life. It’s someone I may not see often but as I make more Truck Series starts, and we’re at the same track, he is the first person to give me advice and pointers and it’s something you can’t buy. That’s a relationship and I just find it really cool that he cares enough to be that guy for me.”
And full circle, that Thanksgiving Classic where they first connected was actually won by fellow NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Matt McCall, who makes that the one race he enters every year since it’s after the conclusion of the 38 race grind.
Is there any chance the Queens, Phil Warren and Daniels can run it back at Southern National?
“So, our family car has sat at the shop since it won that last championship,” Queen said. “I’m driving for Lee Pulliam right now so our car is ready to go whenever Cliff wants it. I would love to do it.”
And if Warren is occupied with grandson Ryley Music’s career that weekend, Daniels is certainly qualified enough to crew chief the car himself.
“Absolutely, he could,” Queen said. “I’m going to be in Lee’s car that weekend so if Cliff wants to race, I would pull that car out in a heartbeat and we’ll get it to the track for him. He would have to bring his guys to the race track, but short of that, I would do anything for Cliff Daniels, man.
“If he called me and said, ‘let’s go race,’ that’s what we’re going to do because I would do anything for him. He’s just a really good guy and he means a lot to me.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.