NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — For the second time in 2024, a zMAX CARS Tour star has taken the NASCAR world by storm in their debut. Back at Martinsville Speedway in April, it was Carson Kvapil. This time at North Wilkesboro Speedway, it was Brenden “Butterbean” Queen.
Much like Kvapil did in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Martinsville, Queen brought the TRICON Garage No. 1 home in fourth to cap his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. Just like Kvapil’s run at Martinsville, Queen didn’t have it easy, and there wasn’t a lack of controversy.
After the CARS Tour rained out at North Wilkesboro on Wednesday evening, Queen jumped in the truck for the first time ever Friday afternoon for the hour-long practice session. Right at the end of the session, the No. 1 jumped to position No. 1 on the board.
At that moment, the question of whether or not Queen could adapt to the Truck Series had already been answered. It was immediately a question of how good he would run, rather than if he would run good.
Unfortunately, qualifying Saturday morning rained out, meaning the starting lineup would be set by metric rather than lap time. Without any driver points to his name, Queen lined up 26th on the grid for the Wright Brand 250.
At the drop of the green, Queen began working his way forward, jumping from 26th to 16th in the 70 lap first stage, even after the TRICON team brought Queen down pit road towards the end of the stage.
Shortly after, the biblical rains came and the race was red flagged at lap 81, postponing the remaining 169 laps to Sunday morning. From there, Queen picked up right where he left off, quickly working his way into the top 10 by lap 87.
Queen ran as high as sixth before a yellow at lap 116, when the TRICON team elected to take two tires in order to gain track position and put their driver up front for the restart.
Unfortunately for Queen, he was busted for speeding, sending the rookie to the tail of the longest line for the restart. Starting with that restart, the charge to the front began for Butterbean. From the restart at lap 123, it took Queen just 44 laps to drive back to the top 10.
From there, the march forward continued at a methodical pace, until the arrived on the back bumper of fourth-place runner Christian Eckes. Queen tried for multiple laps to drive underneath Eckes for the fourth spot, and eventually got loose underneath the No. 19 entering turn one.
The two made…
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