It’s been nearly seven months since Brenden Queen last ran a Late Model Stock Car race. The ARCA Menards Series points leader has been tight-lipped all year about whether he’d get to run one this year, but now he’s finally spilling the (Butter)beans on his plans.

“Bean Nation,” as his fanbase has come to be known, will get to see their driver race at home at Langley Speedway in the Hampton Heat 200 on Saturday, July 19. It will be a reunion with Lee Pulliam Performance, as Queen will return to the No. 03 with help from Best Repair Company, Folsom Fence Supply, Tucker Homes, Moody’s Water Conditioning, and Towne Bank.

“If there was one race that I could make work that I felt like would be a really cool one for me, it would be to go home and race at my home track in front of my home crowd,” Queen told FloRacing. “It didn’t take much to pitch it to Lee. We’d kind of talked about it jokingly, and then we had some people pitch in to make it happen and here we are.”

Queen is a three-time winner of the Hampton Heat, the biggest race on the calendar at Langley Speedway and the second leg of the Virginia Triple Crown. With victories in 2020, 2023, and 2024, Queen joined C.E. Falk as the only two drivers in the event’s 16-year history to have won it three times. Queen has also won the race two years in a row now, so a win this year would give him two different records as he’d become the only driver to win it three years in a row, and the only driver to win it four times.

“We felt it would be kind of hard to win it two years in a row and not go back as the defending winner and try to do it again,” said Queen.

When asked what it would mean to him if he is able to pull off the victory on June 19, Queen said he wasn’t fully sure just yet.

“Honestly, I don’t even know how to really describe what it would mean, because I think in the moment it would take a little bit to set in,” he explained. “Winning the CARS Tour race at Langley (in 2022) kind of changed the whole trajectory of my career. A couple of years ago I was just working in the area and racing Langley locally. And those fans started following me before I’d accomplished anything. I think to have that moment where it all started in a Late Model Stock, and show I’ve never forgotten where I came from will be special. I’m living the dream racing all over, but there’s not many things that beat racing at home.”

In addition to racing at home in a Late Model again, the weekend will be all the more special for Queen because he gets to race with Lee Pulliam and Lee Pulliam Performance again. Queen and Pulliam became like brothers throughout their two years running the zMAX CARS Tour together, which ultimately culminated in winning the 2024 CARS Tour championship, the first and so far only CARS Tour titles for each of them. So running this race together again will be something that both of them will cherish greatly.

“I think Lee and I just had so much in common. We were more alike than we ever thought,” Queen said. “We both came from having not much and grinded it out to have success. Lee and I both knew the way last year ended was not the way we wanted to go out. The last two races were not good. But you just never know. You’re not guaranteed another race with the way the sport works. To know we’re going to have at least one more no matter what is cool. I’m going to soak in the whole day. Whether we’re in tech or whatever, the conversations in the trailer, the talking about adjustments, the lead-up to qualifying and the lead-up to the race, we’re just going to soak it all in and enjoy doing it together.”

The weekend will be a busy one for Queen as he also has to run an ARCA race on Friday night at Dover Motor Speedway four hours up the road and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. That means that he will miss all of Friday’s practices, putting him a little bit at a disadvantage. 

However, Queen said he believes that his preparation with Chevrolet and training with Josh Wise will be the most important aspect towards having a successful weekend.

“I think I just have to rely on everything that I’m doing at Chevy and with Josh Wise with my training and heat conditioning. Hydration will be key. Knowing when to hydrate. Doing it earlier than later, and the in-between the Dover race on Friday and the Hampton Heat on Saturday to get my hydration back overnight. My main focus is the ARCA race and winning at Dover, because I’m trying to win an ARCA championship. But once the day is over, just switching back to a different style of racing (will be a challenge). I’ll be the first one to tell you it’s not going to be easy. Just because I’ve won this race three times doesn’t mean it will be easy. I haven’t been in the car since November, and Late Model guys don’t get worse. They get better.”

The ultimate question, though, is if this will really be the only time we see Brenden Queen run a Lee Pulliam Performance Late Model Stock Car in 2025. New this year is that the winner of the South Boston 200 and the winner of the Hampton Heat are locked into the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in September. The ARCA Menards Series races at Kansas Speedway on VSCU 300 qualifying night, but could we possibly see Queen at Martinsville if he were to win the Hampton Heat?

“I think that would have to be a ‘stay tuned,’ right? In my Late Model career I’ve pretty much accomplished everything I could ever dream of except winning a Clock and winning the SoBo 200, really,” said Queen. “Obviously, I would have liked to have had that locked-in rule last year with Kasnas. Kansas this year is on that same Friday again. With missing South Boston I’m out of the Triple Crown. I wouldn’t say never, because if I had the opportunity to show up to Martinsville I would do it. But as of now, I don’t have any plans. Kansas will be the focus and will hopefully be when we’re trying to cap off an ARCA championship. But ask me that again if we win.”

Race fans can watch Brenden “Butterbean” Queen return to the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway on Saturday, July 19 live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.