The 2025 ARCA Menards Series champion makes the jump to NASCAR\u2019s Truck Series as Kaulig Racing enters the circuit for the first time.<\/p>\n
Brenden \u201cButterbean\u201d Queen\u2019s rise through the racing ranks continues. The Hickory High School graduate and Chesapeake native, who captured the 2025 ARCA Menards Series championship, has been hired by Kaulig Racing to compete full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series next season.<\/p>\n
Kaulig Racing made the announcement Thursday, naming Queen as the first of five drivers who will pilot Ram trucks during the team\u2019s debut year on the circuit. The 2026 Truck Series season opens Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big thanks to Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice, Ram, and everyone at Kaulig Racing for this opportunity,\u201d Queen said in a team release. \u201cI\u2019m just a short-track kid who\u2019s worked hard every day, never really knowing if I\u2019d ever make it to this level. I\u2019m very thankful for this chance and can\u2019t wait to get rolling with Ram and Kaulig Racing. The goals are simple: build a winning team and chase championships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice praised Queen\u2019s steady climb and success across multiple levels of racing.
\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing to see what Brenden is capable of, from winning multiple championships at his local short track to his dominant ARCA championship season,\u201d Rice said. \u201cHe\u2019s proven he deserves this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before his full-time jump to the Truck Series, the 27-year-old Queen will finish out his three-race stint in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing, competing at Talladega on Saturday, Martinsville on Oct. 25, and Phoenix on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
Queen has already shown flashes of his potential in Kaulig\u2019s No. 11 Chevrolet, finishing 20th at Bristol and ninth at Kansas. His breakout ARCA season featured eight wins in 20 starts \u2014 a performance that solidified his place as one of NASCAR\u2019s rising stars. He’s also a former Langley Speedway champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 ARCA Menards Series champion makes the jump to NASCAR\u2019s Truck Series as Kaulig Racing enters the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":310389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-310388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115388834719396864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}