Queen Shines Under ARCA’s Friday Night Lights At Kansas

Brenden Queen celebrates in victory lane Friday night at Kansas Speedway. (Ed Zurga/ARCA Racing photo)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – One stellar late-race restart allowed Brenden Queen to take control of Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series return to Kansas Speedway, but it took two more after that before he could celebrate with the trophy.

Though he didn’t have the night’s dominant car, Queen used a perfect launch with 11 laps left in regulation to grab the lead of the Reese’s 150 from a dominant Gio Ruggiero.

After that, Queen didn’t give up the top spot again, leading the rest of the way and surviving a double-overtime finish to notch his tour-leading eighth ARCA Menards Series victory of the season.

The past CARS Late Model Stock Tour champion – competing in his rookie ARCA campaign – drove away from Ruggiero in successive one-lap sprints en route to a .349-second advantage at the checkered flag.

It was a far cry from the second race on the schedule at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway back in March, when Queen was passed on a similar final-lap overtime by Brent Crews after struggling during the race-ending restart.

That was a moment that Queen referenced after his celebratory burnout and fence climb in front of the fans in attendance, saying it “changed our season” by firing up his mentality during crunch time.

“Man, we’ve come a long way from Phoenix, haven’t we?” Queen noted. “Having to learn restarts with these ARCA cars has been a journey, but we just hung in there and stayed with this one all night. A result like this is why you never give up. Just like last week [at Salem Speedway], we kept ourselves in it and it paid off at the end.

“I’ve been sick, but Mark and Sherri Webb gave me an opportunity to drive this car and I wasn’t going to give up on that, so I’ve been fighting through that too,” added Queen, who has been under the weather over the past two weeks. “What a heck of a season this has been. It hasn’t always been easy, but the boys on my pit box … and [crew chief] Steven Dawson in particular – he’s been the man.

“What a rookie campaign. I can’t believe we’re here.”

Though Queen qualified on the General Tire Pole, he lost out during the initial start of the race after Ruggiero used the outside of the front row to soar around to the early advantage.

But even as Ruggiero led 74 of the first 88 laps, Queen stayed in striking distance, running second for most of that time and never more than two seconds adrift of the front.

His chance came when the third yellow flag of the night waved on lap 79, after third-running Corey Day’s engine expired and sent the lead-lap cars to pit road for fresh tires to battle with down the stretch.

Ruggiero elected the outside as the leader at that point, but Queen got a better push from behind and surged ahead down the frontstretch with help from 2014 ARCA national champion Mason Mitchell.

Queen pulled away in clean air by nearly a second, but moments after he crossed under the white flag to start the final lap, a caution was called as Andy Jankowiak cut a tire and hit the wall from fourth.

That put Ruggiero back on the front row with Queen, but Ruggiero spun the tires up high on the first attempt at a one-lap overtime, bogging down before Thad Moffitt went around off turn two to force the second and final extra-distance restart.

Queen pulled away to a season sweep of ARCA’s two races at Kansas, while Ruggiero was left to settle for his fourth runner-up finish in 12 career starts with the national ARCA Menards Series.

The Massachusetts young gun lamented his lane choice for the lap-90 restart as the turning point that he felt cost him the race win.

“I think that one time I picked the top it probably wasn’t the best decision there from the push I had behind me,” Ruggiero said. “If I had a little bit better push there, I think I would have been able to maintain the lead.

“I hate it for this JGR team, man. They work so hard. They brought me the fastest car here tonight.”

In the penultimate ARCA race for Venturini Motorsports, Leland Honeyman Jr. was the best finisher for the team in third, ahead of teammate Kris Wright and Nitro Motorsports’ Taylor Reimer.

Reimer’s fifth-place finish marked her best run on pavement and made her one of three women in ARCA history to notch a top five on both asphalt and dirt surfaces.

Mitchell faded to sixth after contact during the final overtime, with Thad Moffitt, Andrew Patterson, Jason Kitzmiller, and Isabella Robusto completing the top 10.

Lavar Scott, Queen’s season-long title rival, slapped the outside wall 41 laps into the race and cut down a right-front tire as a result. The damage put him out of the race and left him with a 25th-place finish.

With Friday night’s triumph, Queen sits on the cusp of the ARCA national championship, leaving America’s Heartland unofficially 85 points ahead of Scott with only the season finale at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway ahead of him.

It means that, as soon as Queen turns a lap of practice at Toledo to earn the final 50-point segment bonus of the ARCA season, he’ll clinch the title for himself and Pinnacle Racing Group.

“Maybe we get nine [wins], but we’re closing in on what the main prize is,” he said. “PRG has done so much for my career this year and it’s going to be really cool to finish that off next weekend.”

Broadcast coverage of the season finale Owens Corning 200 at Toledo airs Saturday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. ET on FS2 and the FOX Sports App.

The finish:

1. 28-Brenden Queen, 2. 18-Gio Ruggiero, 3. 20-Leland Honeyman Jr., 4. 15-Kris Wright, 5. 70-Taylor Reimer, 6. 25-Mason Mitchell, 7. 46-Thad Moffitt, 8. 40-Andrew Patterson, 9. 97-Jason Kitzmiller, 10. 55-Isabella Robusto, 11. 17-Patrick Staropoli, 12. 2-Eloy Falcon, 13. 23-Tyler Reif, 14. 67-Ryan Roulette, 15. 11-Tony Cosentino, 16. 12-Takuma Koga, 17. 7-Eric Caudell, 18. 73-Andy Jankowiak, 19. 86-Alex Clubb, 20. 03-Jeff Maconi, 21. 06-Brayton Laster, 22. 99-Michael Maples, 23. 77-Corey Day, 24. 48-Brad Smith, 25. 6-Lavar Scott, 26. 31-Bobby Dale Earnhardt, 27. 10-Ed Pompa, 28. 0-Kevin Hinckle, 29. 9-Matt Kemp.