Chesapeake’s Brenden “Butterbean” Queen extended his ARCA Menards Series points lead with a victory Sunday on the dirt track at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, winning the Southern Illinois 100. It was his sixth victory of the year.
Queen, driving a Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group, gained a $7,500 bonus by posting the best average finish on the circuit’s two dirt races, DuQuoin and Springfield. He was fourth at Springfield, a race held at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, but Sunday’s victory meant his traditional trip to a Waffle House.
“I’ve been getting my teeth kicked in on the short track stuff,” Queen said on arcaracing.com. “These guys are working hard to fix that, but it feels good to have a rebound. It’s been a while since we’ve had some waffles, so we’re going to enjoy.”
Queen, formerly dominant at Langley Speedway, gained dirt-track experience growing up at Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and Natural Bridge Speedway.
“I haven’t won a dirt race since 2022 when I ran full-time,” Queen said on arcaracing.com. “I think everybody counted me out to win one of these, but that’s why you never give up.”
Queen qualified fifth and overcame mechanical problems.
“My throttle was sticking pretty good,” Queen said on arcaracing.com. “I lost fourth [gear], lost fifth [gear]. Honestly, I think that might have made me drive it differently. I had to teach myself how to drive it with the throttle sticking and it got faster. Maybe that’s what I wasn’t doing the whole time.”
Queen passed Brent Crews and Lawless Alan, then went by Lavar Scott, who’s second in the ARCA standings.
Alan was the race’s runner-up. Queen, who gained 47 points for the victory, has 805 for the season, followed by Scott at 763 and Alan at 744.
There are four races left in the ARCA season. The next one is the Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 11. It’s at 5:30 p.m. on FS1.
