HAMPTON (WAVY) – Brenden “Butterbean” Queen left Langley Speedway on Saturday night with the biggest win of his young career, taking home a check for $10,000 as champion of the Hampton Heat 200. But it didn’t come without a little bit of controversy.
With seven laps left, reigning champion and hometown kid Connor Hall was door-to-door with Corey Heim, battling for the lead heading into a restart. Right behind both of them was Queen.
“We just crept in there like a snake,” said Queen, who dove to the inside heading into turn two.
That ended up being the biggest move of Queen’s racing life. Hall, now on the outside of a three-wide battle, tried to veer back inside, but without any room, ran into Heim. Both wrecked, leaving Queen free and clear.
“We were kind of unnoticed, and I just timed the restart right,” said Queen. “They were worried about each other.”
The race went to an overtime, green-white-checkered finish, which Queen won with ease.
While Queen celebrated in victory lane, Hall was visibly upset. There was nothing illegal about Queen’s winning move, but did it violate any of racing’s unwritten rules? He didn’t think so.
“I know he (Hall) wanted to win it just as much as I did. With him trying to win it back to back, that’s a pretty big deal, but at the same time, if he was in my position, I think he would have done the same thing.
“(There’s) 10 grand on the line, (and) nine to go, you got to take the opportunity’s there.”
