All hail Butterbean: Brenden Queen pulls away for monumental North Wilkesboro Speedway victory

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Since the turn of the decade, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen has built an impressive reputation in Late Model Stock competition.

Three championships at his home track of Virginia’s Langley Speedway, along with victories in crown jewel races like the Hampton Heat, the South Carolina 400 and the Battle of the Stars, have established Queen as perennial threat for the win each time he straps into his familiar No. 03 Oldskool Video Games Toyota.

Yet of all the accomplishments Queen has accumulated in his career to date, he admitted winning at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway in a field consisting of NASCAR legends like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski will easily be one of his most cherished.

“As a driver, you dream of winning races like Martinsville, Hampton Heat and the Thanksgiving Classic. This race is one of those,” Queen said. “It might be bigger, honestly. They said you can make a drink in [the trophy]. Where else can you get that?”

Despite having the best car in a stacked field, Queen never once believed the Window World 125 was in his control until the final moments.

Queen remembered how a faulty hood derailed a potential top-five finish in the CARS Tour‘s inaugural trip to North Wilkesboro in August. As the laps dwindled, he was mentally preparing himself for a late-race caution while simultaneously doing everything he needed to pull away from the rest of the pack.

Any doubts Queen had about his circumstances were erased when he saw the checkered flag fly in front of his windshield. The victory validated Queen‘s assurance in his driving talent along with the decision to commit to the CARS Tour full-time in 2023.

Lee Pulliam, one of the southeast‘s greatest Late Model Stock drivers and a four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion, provided Queen the opportunity to branch out from Langley and test his luck against past CARS Tour champions like Carson Kvapil, Bobby McCarty and Deac McCaskill.

The venture was a daunting one for Queen, but he was more than willing to bet on himself and show his efficiency extended far beyond Hampton, Virginia.

“I‘m here to showcase on a more national level,” Queen said. “The CARS Tour is the toughest competition in the country for Late Model Stocks, and to beat the best, you have to race in this series. Wins are so hard to get, and you don‘t know when you‘ll get another one.

“We let one get away at Florence [Motor Speedway], but I‘d give up a regular race to win [North] Wilkesboro every day of the week.”

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Queen considers himself grateful he will always be able to reflect on a perfect weekend at North Wilkesboro that also saw him break the track record with a time of 19.125 seconds in qualifying. But he made sure to give Pulliam plenty of credit for how everything turned out.

Having already won a CARS Tour race at Langley driving in his family-owned equipment, Queen had every reason to believe he could repeatedly replicate that performance in cars prepared by Pulliam while also leaning on him to perfect his race craft.

The knowledge Pulliam has provided to Queen proved to be invaluable when it came to closing out a win at North Wilkesboro on Wednesday.

“I came to Lee knowing what it took while not being the youngest cup of tea,” Queen said. “I‘m still young enough to make it in this sport, but I wasn‘t a 15-year-old kid coming in with no Late Model experience. That helped the learning curve, but Lee is so good at giving you cars for these types of races and giving you tips.

“No matter how many races I win, every time I strap in and run laps, I‘m learning, so whenever you can learn from someone who has won more races than he remembers running is something you can‘t take away.”

As Queen took the slow-but-joyous ride up a lift to North Wilkesboro‘s iconic Victory Lane, he admitted to having never seen Pulliam that jubilant after a win.

Similar emotions were shared by Queen as he reflected on the efforts by Earnhardt Jr. and so many others to revitalize a track that had been mostly dormant and deteriorating since its last NASCAR race back in 1996.

With a full schedule at North Wilkesboro ahead that includes the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on Sunday evening, Queen knew how significant a Late Model Stock victory could be toward propelling his career forward with a top-tier NASCAR organization.

Although he currently does not know if his North Wilkesboro win will yield such a chance, Queen intends to stay focused on the races in front of him so he can keep building a reputation as one of the best short-track drivers in the country.

“There‘s so many eyes on this race,” Queen said. “You have to win these races to get your name in the hat, but we got the pedal down to try and make opportunities happen. I think this is a step in the right direction, because this is a race we wanted to win.

“Not many people can say they went toe-to-toe with the Cup guys and win at the Late Model level.”

The grind does not slow down for Queen after North Wilkesboro, as he departed the historic facility to shift his focus over to dirt-track racing.

Any chance for Queen to race and learn more about himself only creates more openings to bolster his growing short-track resume.