Brenden Queen Blasts to CARS Late Model Stock Tour Victory at North Wilkesboro

Brenden "Butterbean" Queen is officially a winner at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

After winning the pole for Wednesday's CARS Late Model Stock Tour event by more than a quarter of a second, the Chesapeake, Virginia-native dominated the late portion of the Window World 125 to score his second CARS Tour victory.

Taking on a pair of right-side tires during the third and final scheduled caution of the evening, Queen made quick work of the drivers that stayed on the track, passing Ryan Millington for the lead with about 25 laps to go.

The Lee Pulliam Performance driver then put an absolute beating on the stacked field of Late Model Stock Cars, pulling to a 4.783-second advantage over second-place finisher Ryan Millington, who stayed out under the final scheduled caution of Wednesday's 125-lap contest.

After sustaining minor damage in a multi-car accident on Lap 30, Jared Fryar rebounded to score a third-place result, while Connor Hall and Kaden Honeycutt, both regulars in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, completed the top-five.

Layne Riggs, who utilized an alternate strategy to take the lead for much of the race's middle portion, would come home in sixth-place, with Chad McCumbee racing up to seventh-place in the closing stint of the event.

A streak of four top-two finishes to start the season for Carson Kvapil came to an end at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Wednesday, finishing eighth after a bold strategy play gained the JR Motorsports driver track position late in the event.

Mirroring his performance from North Wilkesboro in August 2022, Zack Miracle was able to make another incredible run through the pack to score a ninth-place result, after starting outside the top-25.

Chase Briscoe, piloting a third entry for Chad Bryant Racing, was the only active NASCAR Cup Series driver to secure a top-10 result in Wednesday's race, bringing his No. 5 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang home in tenth, after running as high as second.

Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski trailed Briscoe, finishing 11th and 12th in Wednesday's 125-lap event, albeit more than 10 seconds behind eventual winner Brenden Queen.

Daniel Suarez, running his first of two scheduled events on Wednesday, finished 15th after sustaining significant damage to the nose of his No. 99 R&S Race Cars entry. Despite the damage, the Trackhouse Racing driver maintained solid pace.

Much like Suarez, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sustained significant damage to the nose of his No. 3 Sun Drop Chevrolet, which ultimately hurt the performance of his JR Motorsports entry throughout the remainder of the event.

The nose damage to both Suarez and Earnhardt came as a result of a multi-car accident on the frontstretch, which took William Sawalich, Mini Tyrrell, Chase Burrow, Landon Pembelton, Deac McCaskill, Connor Zilisch, and Andrew Grady out of the event.

After the halfway point of the event, Jacob Heafner became the eighth driver to retire from the Window World 125 prematurely, due to an accident, after contact from Mason Diaz sent the No. 95 into the turn one wall.

As a result of 'avoidable contact', Diaz would be sent to the tail-end of the lead-lap, forcing the Chad Bryant Racing competitor to mount a late-race charge. With 30 green flag laps to rebound, Diaz would score a 13th-place finish.

Tri-County Speedway will be the next stop for the CARS Late Model Tour, as the series contests its sixth event of 2023 on Saturday, May 27.

Full Race Results