Mother Nature cast a side-eye on the NASCAR All-Star Game festivities in North Wilkesboro this weekend. The Wright Brand 250 truck race faced its wrath the most when rain wiped out qualifying, and now heavy rain has ensured the main event is postponed until 11:30am ET tomorrow. But a sad story also emerges about an aspiring rookie, out of Dale Jr’s CARS Tour, unable to debut. Queen Brenden faces two rain delays and an identity crisis, courtesy of NASCAR’s strict policies, before its first race in one of the three major national stock car racing series.
NASCAR forces CARS Tour champion Brenden Queen to lose his “Butterbean” nickname
The man they call ‘Butterbean’ on the Late Model scene, earned his nickname as a baby due to his physical resemblance to the four-time world super heavyweight champion, less popularly known as Eric Esch. Some might recognize the original ‘Butterbean’ by his red, white and blue boxer shorts, which adorned the American flag in an oversized frame.
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Some may remember him from his various appearances over the decades in pop culture publications of all kinds. Regardless, the Butterbean ‘nickname’ maintains a deep connection with budding racer Brenden Queen, 26, due to his own story of how he earned the important alias.
But NASCAR’s newest Butterbean received a cold welcome to the big leagues, just after rain at North Wilkesboro moved his chances of defending the Window World 125 Late Model Stock crown to a future date. Adding to the CARS Tour owner-driver’s misery over the weekend, his #1 part-time Tricon Garage Toyota Tundra, preparing for the NCTS race on Saturday, faced scrutiny from the sanctioning body for paying homage to its popular nickname on the rear windshield.
The No. 1 team reportedly changed the decal “overnight” after a rain delay determined the fastest truck driver to start P26 in practice via the metric. This resulted in Brenden & Co.’s intended nameplate reading her legal last name, ‘Queen’, due to existing NASCAR rules and various car color regulations.
Anyway, moments after the trucks left following Ty Majeski Stage 1 victory in the #98 Ford F-150, heavy rain hit the 0.625-mile track after lightning caused the red flag and subsequent rain delay. Worsening conditions led NASCAR to postpone All-Star festivities until tomorrow, consequently canceling qualifying races for the Cup Series main event on the same day. However, Butterbean presumably would have been disappointed by his debut ‘double trouble’, brought on by Mother Nature and her glorious companion, NASCAR.
Additionally, the online NASCAR community watched every detail closely, but most fought for Butterbean’s freedom of speech.
Fans criticize NASCAR for controlling nicknames
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“NASCAR? More like the NFL, a no-fun league,” one diehard opined about the broader discussions on the NASCAR subreddit. Another made a careful but controversial observation, writing: “It’s crazy that this was an issue, but they don’t make teams display the correct name when a replacement driver takes over.”
Recalling the true origins of this now-iconic nickname, Reddit user Chevota_84 posed a rather speculative question.. Your comment asked: “Am I the only person who thought that maybe the real Butterbean probably copyrights the name? Is there information I’m missing about NASCAR making the change for other reasons?
(@cfolsom_racing) NASCAR had @TRICONGarage change the nameplate from “Butterbean” to Queen overnight.
byu/Spinebuster03 inNASCAR
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However, amid all the understandable confusion surrounding the evolution of the NASCAR handbook, some seemed convinced of an “ulterior motive,” considering the previous use of nameplates at different stops by the superstars of yesteryear in the car. Gen 6.
As one fan rightly asked, “Didn’t Tony Stewart have “Smoke” in his car for a while?” The stands are a vibrant community, and this fan cleared up the dirty air surrounding this initial question with a simple one-line explanation. “On the roof rail (which NASCAR only controls slightly with general paint scheme rules), not on the windshields (which they do).”
This comment stood out from the rest, delving into his carefully detailed insight into the subsequent debate surrounding Brenden Queen’s name tag. “They used to change the plates for substitutes. Look at 2013 when Hamlin was out or 2014 when Stewart was out. It was better because then a casual fan had more reminders about the driver change.”
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Dropping a constant bombshell, he went on to exclaim, “Even IndyCar changes the name of the driver on the car when there is a substitute. “NASCAR needs to get on board.”
As for the Craftsman Truck Series, the legal label with the driver’s last name was moved to the upper rear window in 2015 and has remained there ever since. But will the conditions affect his chances in the coming days due to the rain delay? Only time will tell.
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