HUDSON, N.C.- The zMAX CARS Tour field made their first of two trips to Tri-County Speedway this past Saturday (May 25) night, with both the Late Model Stock Cars and Pro Late Models in action for the Sound Gear 225.
The event marked the first of three on the schedule that will see an increased payout throughout the field, a move made in place of the $30,000 Old North State Nationals Event.
With extra money on the line and a full field of Late Model Stock cars in attendance, there was no shortage of action throughout the night. But through it all, the name “Butterbean” was constant at the top, as Brenden Queen led all 125 laps en route to the $10,000 win.
Butterbean wasn’t the only big story of the night, though. Multiple other drivers enjoyed career nights and drama came early on in the Pro Late Model feature.
Here are three takeaways from the Sound Gear 225 at Tri-County.
A Butterbean Beatdown
Less than a week earlier, an elated Queen climbed from the TRICON Garage No. 1 after finishing fourth in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. Just six days later he put a beatdown on the best Late Model Stock car drivers in the country.
Leading in to Saturday night, Queen and the No. 03 Lee Pulliam Performance (LPP) team remained winless on the season. The team had brought multiple fast cars to the track, but had little to show for it.
Tri-County was a track Queen and the LPP team had circled on their calendar. Last year Queen had led 94 of 200 laps in the Old North State Nationals at the track before running out of gas. When the series returned later in the fall, he led all 125 laps on his way to a win.
This time around, Butterbean gave us more of the same. He ended a winless streak that dated back to last November’s Thanksgiving Classic.
“Just to know I’m not winless in 2024 is amazing,” Queen said. “It’s not getting any easier, It’s getting harder every week, so you enjoy these like it’s the last one every time.”
Queen laid down a blistering lap in qualifying, clocking in over a tenth of a second faster than second-place Deac McCaskill.
From the drop of the green, Queen was in another league. He quickly pulled away from the rest of the field on every restart for the first two thirds of the race.
At that point, even with the cautions and restarts, it seemed as though the only thing that could stop the No. 03 was a mechanical failure. And it nearly happened – Queen began…
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