THORNBURG, V.A.- The zMAX CARS Tour made its northernmost stop on the 2024 schedule this past Saturday night (June 15), venturing up to Virginia’s Dominion Raceway.
Only the Late Model Stock cars were in action as the Pro Late Models remain on leave, but that didn’t mean there was any shortage of action. Much like last time out at Langley Speedway, there was hard racing throughout the night and quite a few feelings hurt.
Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen went wire-to-wire for the second time this year, scoring his second win of 2024 and seventh of his CARS Tour career. But Butterbean’s dominance wasn’t the only story from the night. Fans in attendance saw fantastic battles late in the running and even the return of a Late Model Stock car legend.
Here are three takeaways from the Mini’s Mission 125 at Dominion Raceway.
Another Butterbean Butt Whoopin’
For the second time in 2024 and fourth time in the past seven months, Butterbean led all 125-laps of a CARS Tour race.
This is becoming a common trend. When he and the No. 03 Lee Pulliam Performance team are at their best, they’re untouchable. Such was the case Saturday night at Dominion. Queen didn’t just lead the entire way. He was never really challenged.
“We like to give butt whooping’s right,” Queen said of the run. “It’s just Lee Pulliam Performance. People doubted him and I never did. When I signed there I told him there’s no other team I’d want to go drive a Late Model Stock car for. He’s the best I ever raced against and now getting to work with him is proving to everybody.
“His cars are bad to the bone. You don’t really see a lot of people leading every lap in this series anymore so I really don’t ever take it for granted, it’s very special. You like winning the close ones and you like winning the good battles but it’s always nice to dominate, too.”
The dominant performance started early in the afternoon. Queen laid down a blistering lap to win his second-consecutive pole at Dominion, breaking the Late Model Stock car track record in the process.
That was a sign of things to come. The fan favorite jumped to the lead at the drop of the green flag and never looked back. Nobody seemed to have anything for the No. 03, even when title hopeful Connor Hall made his way to second in the closing stages.
For the second race in a row, we had the two title favorites one-on-one at the front of the field. But this time Hall was never able to drive up to Queen’s rear bumper like he did back at Langley.
Hall had multiple late race restart opportunities, including a final restart with nine to go. But he was never able to capitalize. Queen sailed off into the Virginia night, besting home state rival Hall by half a second at the checkered flag.
Last year Queen seemed to be on a similar trajectory late in the race at Dominion. He’d dominated the evening’s proceedings leading up to a restart in the final 10 laps. But on that night, Bobby McCarty got the best of Queen on the final restart to steal the win.
Queen admitted last year’s race crossed his mind after the day’s final caution.
“I had like Deja Vu when that caution came out,” Queen said. “I said man, here we go again. But I was so determined, that car was so good tonight that I wasn’t going to let them hang on the outside. … Good restarts, bad ass racecar, Lee Pulliam Performance got us a rocket ship tonight. Same car from Tri-County so it’s two for two, I guess we’ll take it to Caraway (Speedway).”
The win puts Queen within a few points of series leader Hall, with the two beginning to emerge as favorites for the title. Butterbean’s heating up as the summer months arrive. He’ll head to Caraway Speedway as the defending winner at the track.
Lapcevich Vs. Jones Was Late Model Cinema
What. A. Battle.
Treyten Lapcevich and Conner Jones, here are your flowers.
The duo of Lapcevich and Jones put on an early battle of the year candidate late in the running at Dominion, with the two trading the final podium spot multiple times in the final nine laps.
Lapcevich rolled from third on the final restart with nine laps to go, with Jones staged to his outside. The two raced door-to-door until Lapcevich cleared Jones off turn 2 with 7 to go.
On the ensuing entry to turn 3, Jones drove into the left rear of Lapcevich’s No. 77, knocking the Chad Bryant Racing entry up the race track.
From there, the battle was on.
Lapcevich cleared Jones again with another great run off of turn 2, but Jones gave a shove to the left rear of the No. 77 again the following lap. Lapcevich continued to get good runs on the top side to hold the No. 44 of Jones at bay.
Jones made the car stick on the bottom of turns 3 and 4, drawing even with Lapcevich as the two crossed the start-finish line with three laps to go. He then made a dive bomb into turn 1, hip-checking Lapcevich up the racetrack and pulling ahead down the back straightaway.
Entering turn 3, the rookie Lapcevich stood his ground. He pumped the brakes of the No. 77, cut down in line behind Jones and returned the favor, knocking the No. 44 up the track in turns 3 and 4.
The battle was elbows out, side-by-side for the final two laps. In the end, Lapcevich prevailed. He lightly doored Jones’ machine coming to the checkered flag and powered off turn 4 to his first CARS Tour podium.
“That was a fun battle,” Lapcevich said. “I knew that I was good on the top so I was just trying to give him about as much room as I could on the bottom, almost running the third lane out there and getting a good drive off the corner.
“The one time he threw a little bit of a slide-bomb on me and that’s when I had to get back to the inside. Really happy that we could race hard and still both finish and grab a good third place finish here tonight.”
Despite coming out on the losing end, Jones still had an appreciation for the battle
“Yeah me and Treyten had a really good battle,” Jones said. “There’s not much to say, the results show it. He got the better end of the stick but it was still just a really good battle. I love racing people when they race like that, they’re not just out there trying to wreck you the whole time.”
Battles like this are one of the true joys of Late Model Stock car racing.. There’s a fine line between fair and foul. Lapcevich and Jones found the limits of that line to the delight of onlookers.
No hurt feelings and the fans got a fantastic show at the end. Everyone wins at the end of the night.
Nice to See You, Mr. Sellers
How about a surprise CARS Tour appearance from Peyton Sellers?
The two-time NASCAR Advanced Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion only had two series starts to his name entering Saturday night and wasn’t on the race’s original entry list. But when haulers began to arrive at the .4-mile oval on Friday morning, the Sellers Racing Inc. rig was there.
The multi-time Dominion track champion hadn’t made a CARS Tour start since Caraway Speedway in 2022. In two previous starts, Sellers had yet to score a top 10.
Sellers looked to be on track to change that Saturday night at Dominion, laying down the second fastest lap in qualifying behind Queen. He fired off from the outside pole to start the night.
Unfortunately, the success was short lived. Contact between Sellers and Isabella Robusto in a battle for second pinched Sellers’ No. 26 into the outside wall on lap 4. The damage seemed to greatly affect the balance of Sellers racecar, as he quickly fell outside the top 10.
Things quickly got worse from there. On lap 32, Sellers blew a right front tire in turn 4, sending his No. 26 hard into the outside wall and ending his night.
Sellers was scored 24th at nights end – an unfortunate conclusion to what looked like a promising return to the series.
It’s unfortunate to see a driver like Sellers struck with such bad luck in a one-off with the series, especially given how rare his appearances are. Sellers has won just about everything there is to win in a Late Model Stock car, except for a CARS Tour feature.
Maybe one day Virginia native will commit to a full-time Tour run. But for now, we’ll have to wait to see him again.
It could be later this year or multiple years from now. No matter when it comes, Sellers promises to entertain.
Mini’s Mission 125 Results
- 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
- Buddy Isles Jr.
- Peyton Sellers
- Chad McCumbee
- Chase Burrow
- Mason Diaz
- Deac McCaskill
- Kade Brown
- Dustin Storm
What’s Next?
The CARS Tour will take some hard-earned time off. The series returns to action on Wednesday, July 3. Both the Late Model Stock cars and the Pro Late Models will be in action, with coverage live on FloRacing.
About the author
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.
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