While the racing behind him was ferocious, Brenden Queen just kept hitting qualifying laps on the way to his second CARS Tour victory of the season on Saturday night at Dominion Raceway.
It was a rout, with the Lee Pulliam Performance No. 03 leading all 125 laps and ultimately prevailing in his home state over Connor Hall in a rematch of two weeks prior at Langley Speedway where ‘Butterbean’ had learned a lesson.
“I wasn’t letting him get to my rear bumper this time,” Queen said.
It was a spirited drive from Hall to get to second in the first place after posting just a 15th best effort in time trials earlier in the afternoon. And while Queen and Hall were not able to mix it up for the win, those watching were treated to a furious battle for third with Treyten Lapcevich beating Conner Jones after trading paint over the final several laps.
This race may have finally started to thin the heard of championship contenders.
Chad McCumbee entered the race ninth in the standings, but within a race’s worth of points, but was involved in a first lap stack-up that severely damaged his No. 16. Three-time champion Bobby McCarty entered the race in eighth but lost oil pressure and couldn’t risk grenading an engine for the second time this season.
All the other remaining contenders did finish in the top-10 however, making this closer to a seven team battle into the heat of the summer months.
There were some early dramatics too.
Making a rare CARS Tour start, six-time South Boston Speedway champion and two-time NASCAR national champion Peyton Sellers qualified on the outside front row but early contact with Isabella Robusto led to a cut tire and contact with the wall.
Sellers was not around for the finish as a result.
There was also a conflict between Katie Hettinger and Jonathan Findley, racing near the top-10, the contact leading to a DNF for Hettinger. She also sped up to try to find Findley under caution but he used the Carson Kvapil car as a defensive pick under she drove off the car.
“I was clearly faster than he was, and he just stopped in the corner, and yeah, I had to move him after he did it a couple of times and I guess he didn’t like being passed by girl but then he wrecked me,” Hettinger said.
The race featured a great deal of attrition with only 16 cars of the 30 that started finishing on the lead lap.
CARS Tour Mini’s Mission 125
Dominion Raceway
June 15 2024
- Brenden Queen
- Connor Hall
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Conner Jones
- Mini Tyrrell
- Ryan Millington
- Carson Kvapil
- Landen Lewis
- Brent Crews
- Andrew Grady
- Landon Pembelton
- Davey Callihan
- Brandon Pierce
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Isabella Robusto
- Jacob Heafner
- Logan Clark
- Jonathan Findley
- Mason Bailey
- Katie Hettinger
- Bobby McCarty
- Bryce Applegate
- Biddy Isles Jr.
- Peyton Sellers
- Chad McCumbee
- Chase Burrow
- Mason Diaz
- Deac McCaskill
- Kade Brown
- Dustin Storm
Ralph Savage
June 16, 2024 at 6:57 am
Thanks to Short Track Scene for keeping me up on results…especially Cars Tour Races!