See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Starting lineup | Weekend schedule | At-track photos
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sunoco rookie Josh Berry knew the transition from the NASCAR Xfinity Series to Cup racing wasn’t going to be easy, especially since he is following 60-time winner Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
A combination of bad luck and self-inflicted wounds has relegated Berry to 31st in the standings through four races. His best result of 20th came at Las Vegas, where he finished on the lead lap for the only time this season.
“It’s been a little bit disappointing,” Berry acknowledged on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he’ll start second in Sunday’s race (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Even when I started this going back to last summer, people asked me all the time what my expectations were, and I always said that I expected it to be hard — and it is hard.
MORE: Full starting lineup | Bristol results
“Cup racing is hard. So with that side of it, I think each race, we’ve had little-ish different things happen that maybe hurt our finish or not.”
Back-to-back pit road speeding penalties at Atlanta definitely were a setback, as was a spin during qualifying at Phoenix.
“I made a couple of mistakes over the last few weeks,” Berry said. “Spinning out in qualifying at Phoenix put us really far behind all these guys. All week, all they talk about is how you can’t pass.
“I mean, having a mistake like that puts you really far behind and makes your day look worse than it really is, so, for me, it’s just hopefully getting some of these mistakes out of the way early on and start qualifying a little bit better, and I think we’ll be fine.”
Editor’s note: Chase Elliott led early in Sunday’s race to score Hendrick Motorsports’ 80,000th lap led in the NASCAR Cup Series.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — The high concrete banks at Bristol Motor Speedway might just be the place for Hendrick Motorsports to etch another milestone into the history books.
Hendrick Motorsports has led 79,997 laps in its 40-year stretch in the NASCAR Cup Series, beginning with Geoff Bodine’s first circuit on April 29, 1984 at Martinsville Speedway. And so, the opportunity is there for the organization to hit — and surpass — 80,000 laps led during Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Weekend schedule | At-track photos: Bristol
“It’s a lot of laps, for sure, and a lot of race wins encapsulated into all those laps that they’ve led as a company,” Chase Elliott told NASCAR.com. “Definitely proud to have been a very, very small part of that, but I’ve enjoyed my time, and hopefully we can keep adding to it.”
Of course, the current four-driver Hendrick quartet has played a role in making the near-milestone achievable in the first place. While driving under the Hendrick moniker, all four have led significant laps, with 2020 Cup Series champ Elliott (5,108 laps led), 2021 title-winner Kyle Larson (4,548), William Byron (2,640) and Alex Bowman (1,301) combining to lead 13,597 circuits, which accounts for approximately 17% of the Hendrick total.
“It’s really, really amazing when you think about the amount of laps led,” Larson told NASCAR.com. “Not only wins with whatever we’re at, 303 or 304 and almost the 80,000 laps led, it’s crazy. Yeah, to be a part of that, 2021, we had a great season and kind of broke the record for laps led in a season, so that was really neat.
“This year, in general, just a lot of history with Rick (Hendrick’s) 40th season, so to break records this year is pretty cool.”
While the four drivers have combined to lead a respectable total, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have a massive amount of laps led for the organization. The seven-time Cup Series champ Johnson led 18,941 laps as driver of the No. 48 Chevy, spanning from 2002-20. Meanwhile, the four-time champ Gordon’s 24,936 laps led from 1993-2016 surpasses all 29 Hendrick drivers to lead at least one lap with the team. Together, the pair has led 43,877 laps for a staggering 55% of the Hendrick total.
MORE: Where Racing Insights projects Hendrick Motorsports drivers to finish at Bristol
In other words, there is a hefty way to go before the current Hendrick crop can crack into the same stratosphere. But perhaps, with a touch of youth, passing and, well, leading, the current Hendrick iteration can give it a respectable try.
“So, Jeff and Jimmie, though, they’ve, them two together probably have I’m guessing 50% of the laps,” Larson said. “… we have a lot of catching up to do for those two guys.”
“I hope so,” Elliott said. “Obviously time will tell, but it’s a different era than what it used to be, just as far as guys don’t seem to dominate entire days. It seems like you might have guys be good at certain stages, but again, Kyle dominated at Vegas, so I guess anything is on the table.”
BRISTOL, Tenn. — The vagaries of the concrete surface at Bristol Motor Speedway shocked the NASCAR Cup Series drivers during Saturday’s time trials, but Ryan Blaney was best able to deal with the changes between rounds.
The reigning series champion navigated the 0.533-mile short track in 15.356 seconds (124.954 mph) in the second round of qualifying to claim the pole position for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Starting lineup | Weekend schedule
“The track kind of caught everybody by surprise,” said Blaney, who earned his first Busch Light Pole Award since April 2022 at Richmond, his first at Bristol and the 10th of his career.
“The time fall-off and the grip loss behind the wheel was incredible. It was like ‘Who can not mess up a lap and still put a decent time down?’ Great to get our first pole of the year, and ready to go tomorrow.”
Blaney’s Team Penske Ford was 0.020 seconds faster than the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Mustang of second-place qualifier Josh Berry (124.792 mph). Toyota driver Denny Hamlin was third fastest at 124.178 mph.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano qualified fourth, giving Ford drivers three of the top four starting spots. Chase Elliott was fifth in the fastest Chevrolet.
Blaney ran the fastest lap of the day in the first round (15.134 seconds) and opted not to try a second lap in the opening session. That strategy paid off, given the dramatic fall-off most drivers experienced in the money round.
“I think that was a big advantage for us,” said Blaney, who leads the series standings after finishing second, third and fifth in his last three races. “We got the good fortune of going out last in our group, so I could bail after one lap if we were in…
“A lot of teams and drivers, us included, are going to be really scratching our heads tonight, like, ‘What’s the track going to do tomorrow?’”
Chase Briscoe, who tied Hamlin for the second fastest overall lap in Round 1 at 126.528 mph (15.165 seconds), will start sixth on Sunday, followed by Michael McDowell, William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson.
Hamlin is the most recent winner at Bristol, having taken the checkered flag in last year’s Night Race.
Practice recap
Ryan Blaney was fastest in Group A practice at 127.682 mph over Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Joey Logano. In Group B, Harrison Burton was quickest of the group but 13th overall on the single-lap charts. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were the next quickest drivers in Group B.
MORE: Practice results
Twelve drivers completed runs of at least 20 laps during their respective sessions. Blaney was fastest on 20-lap averages over Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Ross Chastain and Zane Smith.
Ty Gibbs contacted the outside wall in Turn 2 early in Group B, forcing the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team to repair some of Gibbs’ Toyota. The sophomore driver slid sideways in the center of the corner on a slick race track.
Contributing: Staff report.
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Bristol Motor Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Standings after Race 4:
Rank Name Points Behind
T-1 Steve Luvender 284 —
T-1 Dustin Albino 284 —
3 Cameron Richardson 235 -49
4 r/NASCAR Community 219 -65
Race 5 of 36: Bristol
Last week’s race at Phoenix tightened up our 36 for 36 standings with three of four pickers making top-10 selections. Points leader Steve Luvender’s selection of Ryan Preece resulted in a 23rd-place finish, while Cameron Richardson and r/NASCAR’s Chase Briscoe picks netted a solid 30 points after the No. 14 came home ninth. The big winner of the day was Dustin Albino, who boldly picked fifth-place-finishing Ryan Blaney.
Now, Bristol and its treachery awaits. How will our pickers handle the high banks of the concrete bullring?
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 77, Carson Hocevar
Dustin’s pick last week (Phoenix): No. 12, Ryan Blaney
Points earned last week: 41 (fifth-place finish)
Total season points: 93 (second place)
Dustin: Hocevar has been impressive to start his rookie Cup Series season. The No. 77 team rides a streak of three straight top-20 finishes — consecutive top 15s — into Bristol, and made the final round of qualifying last week at Phoenix. When making just his fourth career start in the Cup Series last fall at Bristol, Hocevar drove through the field and cracked the top five on raw speed during the second stage. He ended the night in 11th, which was the best finish of the season for the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club team. With more experience, Hocevar is bound to show more flashes of speed this weekend should he have a clean race.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 6, Brad Keselowski
Steve’s pick last week (Phoenix): No. 41, Ryan Preece
Points earned last week: 14 (23rd-place finish)
Total season points: 103 (first place)
Steve: For the second week in a row, a late pit stop took away a potential strong run and severely dented my early lead in the standings — Dustin’s just 10 points back now. I’m breaking out the big guns at Bristol and going with Brad Keselowski, a three-time conqueror of the “Last Great Colosseum” (a five-time winner if we’re including the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series). Keselowski is more than ready to put the 100-plus-race-winless-streak talking point to bed, and momentum is rolling after a pair of RFK Racing top fives last week at Phoenix. Teammate Chris Buescher, of course, won the 2022 Bristol Night Race, and I think it’s finally the boss’s turn to take the checkered flag. (That’s right. I’m picking for a win this week — not just a good points day.)
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 77, Carson Hocevar
Cameron’s pick last week (Phoenix): No. 14, Chase Briscoe
Points earned last week: 30 (ninth-place finish)
Total season points: 70 (fourth place)
Cameron: Momentum and confidence are the keys to this week as NASCAR returns to the Bristol concrete this weekend. After one intermediate and one short-track package race, I’m sold on Carson Hocevar, and he’s back where he stole the show last season with an 11th-place showing in the Bristol Night Race. Qualifying will be one of utmost importance for Sunday and if Hocevar can stick with the top-15 starting spots he had at Las Vegas and Phoenix, he’s due for another eye-popping performance at Bristol.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 47, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
r/NASCAR’s pick last week (Phoenix): No. 14, Chase Briscoe
Points earned last week: 30 (ninth-place finish)
Total season points: 89 (third place)
Debate flowed in this week’s r/NASCAR voting thread, but the subreddit landed on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for Bristol, narrowly beating out Ty Gibbs. The No. 47 may be a slight gamble: While Stenhouse finished top 10 last August, he failed to finish four of five races prior due to crashes. Ultimately, though, the group decided to save a Joe Gibbs Racing pick for later in the season.
u/Dont_hate_the_8: “This is a great one. He’s solid at Bristol. It’s one of his best tracks.”
u/Quasar_24: “If there’s one thing Ricky is good at, it’s drafting tracks, but if there’s two things he’s good at, the other one is short tracks. I think the real gamble is how good the equipment is and how well the car gets dialed in.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared at Bristol as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked for NASCAR exclusively since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale – the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Here are Ken’s suggestions to watch before this weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series drivers couldn’t have picked a better day to shine as the first live-televised race from Bristol had a little bit of everything.
The race featured 14 cautions for a total of 90 laps. It was almost easier to make a list of who wasn’t involved in the cautions than it was to tally up who had issues. It didn’t take long for many of the usual contenders, including defending Cup Series champion Terry Labonte. Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip and a handful of other cars received damage in the accident.
Labonte was later involved in another incident just before the halfway point of the event.
Dale Earnhardt, who started 12th, made his way through the field to the point, proving he was the car to beat. The lack of power steering on his No. 3 car did not affect the race’s outcome as the final laps chipped away.
A late-race battle between Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd captivated the crowd, and the pair traded the lead back and forth a handful of times over the final 80 laps.
When the checkered flag waved, it was Earnhardt in Victory Lane. He led a race-high 214 laps. Rudd finished second, while Labonte recovered from his rough day to finish third.
The 1986 Spring race at Bristol turned out to be a memorable day for a future Hall of Fame driver.
A 29-year-old Rusty Wallace, with just two full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons to his name, captured the first victory of his career. He had to hold off several of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers to do so.
Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Geoff Bodine and Neil Bonnett all led at least 23 laps, but it was Wallace who led the final 101 en route to Victory Lane.
Waltrip, Labonte, Earnhardt and Wallace left Bristol first through fourth in the season standings, respectively.
Nothing seemed more fitting than to see a battle for the victory shape up between two of the most iconic car numbers in NASCAR Cup Series history.
The No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing car of Elliott Sadler and the No. 43 Petty Enterprises car of John Andretti each looked to break a handful of winless streaks at Bristol.
The No. 21 car had not visited Victory Lane in a points-paying event since Morgan Shepherd won at Atlanta in 1993. Sadler, who was in his third season in the Cup Series, had yet to record a top-five finish in his career.
John Andretti was looking to take the No. 43 car back to victory lane for the Petty team for the first time since 1999 when he won at Martinsville. The car number had just three total victories since 1984.
Sadler, who started 38th, held off Andretti to capture his first career victory.
The NASCAR Foundation added a new element to its Speediatrics Fun Day Festival at Phoenix Raceway this weekend – the “Top Stepper” Award presented by KSDT CPA. This award is given to the two individuals participating the Speediatrics Fun Day Festival program who track the most steps in a given period of time.
The “Top Stepper” Awards were presented to 9-year-olds Izzy Carmona and Madelyne Valera for tracking 19,273 and 18,901 steps during the four-day program, using pedometer watches provided in their Speediatrics Fit Kits. The winners received gift cards for a new pair of athletic shoes to keep their momentum going and stay as active and healthy as possible.
“At KSDT CPA, we’re incredibly proud to have sponsored the ‘Top Stepper’ Award at this year’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival,” said KSDT CPA’s Managing Partner Jeffrey Taraboulos. “Witnessing the joy and determination on the faces of these young winners truly warms our hearts. It’s a powerful reminder of the impact we can make when we come together to support the health and well-being of our children. Their enthusiasm and commitment to staying active are inspiring, and it reinforces our dedication to fostering a healthier future for all. To all the participants, you embody the spirit of perseverance and joy in movement. Keep stepping forward, and never forget the strength and happiness that comes with every step you take.”
“We are so grateful to KSDT CPA for sponsoring this award and helping us grow the impact of our programs on the kids we serve,” said The NASCAR Foundation Vice President & Executive Director Nichole Krieger. “To see these kids literally jumping for joy when they were presented with the award is so wonderful.”
In Phoenix, students in the 4th grade at Arizona Desert Elementary School of Tolleson Elementary School District participated in a healthy living curriculum provided by The NASCAR Foundation to introduce them to NASCAR while encouraging them to adopt the same healthy habits that NASCAR drivers and pit crew members use to see success on the race track.
“The ‘Top Stepper’ awards aren’t just about logging steps,” said Tolleson Elementary School District Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Giselle Herrera. “They honor the students who walked, skipped, and hopped their way to the top of the class pedometer chart during The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival activities. For our two students, it’s like winning the gold medal in a friendly race, proving their dedication to staying active and healthy while having a great time. To the school, the award is a celebration of movement and healthy living fostered by The NASCAR Foundation Speediatrics Fun Day Festival. It showcases the importance of overall health and wellness, embracing physical activity and well-being.”
The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival, now in its eighth year, with 14 events scheduled across the country in 2024, is part of The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, which supports hospitals, specialty clinics, camps, and other organizations that provide medical and healthcare services for children.
The festival brings the sport of NASCAR to life for children between the ages of 7 and 12 through a specialized curriculum and a NASCAR-themed at-track festival.
It’s not hard to find something concrete to say about Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For the past three seasons, NASCAR Cup Series drivers have spent the spring event at Bristol racing on Tennessee red clay, 2,300 truckloads worth.
This year, however, dirt won’t be covering the concrete surface for the first race at the 0.533-mile track. Under the circumstances, you might think Christopher Bell would be chagrined at the loss of an opportunity to defend last year’s win on the dirt surface.
MORE: Full Bristol schedule
Instead, Bell waxed almost euphoric about the prospect of two 2024 Bristol races on the high-banked concrete. In his last two Bristol Night Races, Bell ran fourth in 2022 and third in 2023 after winning the pole.
“I love racing at Bristol,” said Bell, who almost assuredly cemented his place in the 2024 Playoffs with his victory last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. “It’s literally my favorite race on the schedule. I’m very thankful we get to go twice this year. It’s been a track we have excelled at the last couple of times we have been there — we’ve been close.
“Bristol is another important race for us; you don’t win the Championship there, but you can definitely lose it if you’re not good. Having a versatile car is the key to a good run at Bristol. We know the bottom will be good because they are spraying the resin (traction compound) down, and we know the top is going to come in at some point, so you have to have a car that can really run both places.”
And that’s from a driver who grew up racing on dirt and won three straight Chili Bowl Nationals during NASCAR offseasons.
The last driver to win a spring Bristol race on concrete was Brad Keselowski in 2020, a feat he accomplished from the pole. Keselowski, however, hasn’t won a Cup race since April 25, 2021 at Talladega, his last year with Team Penske.
Now an owner/driver with RFK Racing, the 2012 series champion saw his drought reach 102 races with last week’s fourth-place run at Phoenix.
With eight victories, Kyle Busch is far and away the leading active winner at Bristol, but like Keselowski, Busch has switched teams — from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing — since his last victory at the 0.533-mile short track in the spring of 2019.
Denny Hamlin, who won last year’s Bristol Night Race, is tied with Keselowski with three victories at the track, second-most among active drivers.
“As a purist, I love seeing this race back on the concrete,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, as the last guy that won there, it’s going to be good to go back there and kind of test what this car wants compared to what we had in the past.
“We’re going to have to tweak on it, but we feel like we’ve got a good base setup with what we had last year.”
Because of high speeds and extreme loads in the corners—Bristol is billed as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile”—Cup drivers won’t be using the new short-track package that debuted last Sunday at Phoenix.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action after a week off, and Spire Motorsports driver Rajah Caruth has a chance at another career milestone in Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With a victory from the pole in the March 1 Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
MORE: Bristol schedule | Craftsman Truck Series standings
Should Caruth win at Bristol on Saturday, he would be the eighth driver in the series to win his first and second races in consecutive starts, joining Rich Bickle (1997), Kurt Busch (2000), Ted Musgrave (2001), Todd Bodine (2004), Kasey Kahne (2004), Kyle Busch (2005) and Johnny Benson Jr. (2006).
An alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, Caruth credits that initiative with his rise to national-level racing.
“It’s really the only reason I was able to go from sim racing to real life,” Caruth said on Monday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Aside from that, I didn’t have any path to race in real life…
“They not only gave me my shot in 2019, they also gave me the time to develop. They allowed me to grow. I showed up every day, trying to get better, working on the cars, learning how to race. They’re the only reason I got to this point now.”
In trying to win a second straight race, Caruth will face a daunting challenge—from Spire Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch, a five-time Truck Series winner at Bristol. The all-time series leader with 65 victories, Busch is making his third start of the season after winning at Atlanta and finishing 15th at Las Vegas.
LUCAMA, N.C. — The 2024 CARS Tour season-opener was far from the only thing on Brenden “Butterbean” Queen’s mind when he pulled into North Carolina’s Southern National Motorsports Park last weekend.
The 26-year-old was eager to share news of a golden opportunity.
Queen is getting the chance to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series; he will pilot the No. 1 Toyota for TRICON Garage at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 18.
Queen’s announcement was met with an overwhelmingly positive reception from the Late Model Stock Car racing community in which he’s embedded. He attributes the jubilant reaction to all the hard work he’s put into building both an efficient race program and a recognizable brand.
“It was hard to keep a secret,” Queen said. “You want to tell all your fans so they can get excited, but what a day it was. This is something I’ve dreamed of, and to see how many people supported the news was really important to me.”
Queen has always been associated with the nickname “Butterbean,” a moniker he received from his family when he was a baby due to the resemblance he shared with professional boxer Eric “Butterbean” Esch. He’s glad the nickname stuck; it enabled him to create an identity to which fans at his home track of Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia could attach.
Queen’s perseverance and magnetic personality garnered him a loyal fan base for Langley’s weekly shows, even when, initially, he wasn’t delivering victories. As the years progressed, he evolved into a perennial contender. He won Langley’s prestigious Hampton Heat for the first time in 2020, and he parlayed that into three consecutive Late Model Stock track titles to open the decade.
The dominance Queen displayed at Langley gave him the confidence to branch out and test his luck against the best Late Model Stock competitors from the southeast. He embarked on this venture by departing his family team and joining Lee Pulliam, whose accomplishments include four NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national titles.
Queen and Pulliam found instant success by winning the 2022 South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway. That triumph set an efficient tone for the following year, when Queen secured another Hampton Heat win along with four victories and a second-place finish in the CARS Tour point standings.
Such an efficient run was something Queen knows would not have been possible only a few years earlier, even with stellar equipment. Dealing with one hardship after another was a crucial first step in his development; it helped him simultaneously understand how to take care of a car and maximize its potential.
“This comes from the days of grinding in my backyard with lesser equipment, not being able to afford parts and having to use old stuff,” Queen said. “It made me appreciate the car and equipment way more, so when I got better stuff, I knew how to appreciate it. Last year we proved we could go on the road and have so much success.”
The natural ability Queen displays and the compassion he has for those around him are two reasons why Pulliam wanted Butterbean to join his operation. Pulliam said there’s never a day around the shop when Queen is not actively sharing information to help the organization. This includes assisting Pulliam’s driver development program, which now includes Isabella Robusto and Gavan Boschele.
Pulliam had high expectations for Queen, but even the car owner was impressed by how quickly the wins began accumulating. He has every reason to believe they will reach more milestones in 2024.
“Brenden sets the bar very high and is a valuable asset,” Pulliam said. “We knew we could win right out of the gate, but knowing you can and getting it done are two different things. He’s won some really big races for us, and we’ve come close to winning a lot more, so we’re looking forward to continuing our journey together.
“Quite frankly, I think he’s the best Late Model Stock driver in the country right now.”
Queen’s talent was on full display during his final victory of 2023 in the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National. At the end of an intense, 50-lap battle to the finish, Queen fended off NASCAR Cup Series driver Josh Berry and fellow Late Model Stock standout Kaden Honeycutt.
That win caught the attention of several in the motorsports industry — including Toyota. The manufacturer contacted Queen about making a Truck Series appearance, which he was more than happy to accept.
Queen can’t think of a place better than North Wilkesboro to make his Truck Series debut. The historic facility was the sight of his dominant victory last year against a field that consisted of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and other Cup Series stars.
Queen, though, is anticipating plenty of differences in the Truck race, especially now that the track has been repaved. He will also have to adapt to new aerodynamics and a heavier ride, but those factors are not quelling his optimism about earning another North Wilkesboro win.
“Riding that lift is something not a lot of people get to do, and I’m lucky enough to have done it once,” Queen said. “What an honor it would be to ride a truck up the lift in my debut, but it’s going to be a totally different ball game than Late Model Stocks, and you’ll need a good enough truck to have enough momentum to keep your free roll up.”
The primary piece of advice Pulliam has provided to Queen before his Truck Series debut is to enjoy the experience, reminding him that many great short-track drivers have gone their whole careers without receiving a similar opportunity.
For Pulliam, the furthest he progressed up the developmental ladder was a handful of starts in what’s now the ARCA Menards Series East. There are days when Pulliam wishes he could have made it to NASCAR’s top ranks, but he has worked tirelessly in his post-driving career to ensure his drivers have the fundamentals to excel.
With another of his drivers in Corey Heim serving as Queen’s teammate, there is plenty of elation for Pulliam leading up to North Wilkesboro. He’s confident Queen has the capability to eventually turn that one-off Truck Series appearance into a full-time Cup Series career one day.
“I couldn’t be any more proud,” Pulliam said. “It’s awesome to see Brenden get an opportunity like this. I’m kind of living my dream through my drivers now, so it’s been pretty cool for me to do that through these guys like Corey Heim and now Butterbean. This is something I take a lot of pride in.”
The best way for Queen to prove he’s worthy of additional Truck Series starts will be to keep his Toyota Tundra in one piece, respecting the competition and showcasing the skill set that won him so many Late Model Stock races around the southeast.
Queen hopes the identity he’s built around the Butterbean brand attracts more fans who aren’t familiar with his short-track exploits. He also wants to inspire the next generation of young fans who fall in love with motorsports by watching races.
“All those years of never giving up pays off,” Queen said. “I was one of those little kids sitting in the stands growing up and always wanted to be a NASCAR driver. You just need to keep chasing your dreams, and if you never give up, you can make anything happen.”
Once the checkered flag waves at North Wilkesboro, Queen will go back to focusing on Late Model Stock competition. He intends to maintain that diligent work ethic so he can one day open his seasons at Daytona International Speedway.