Brenden Queen and Connor Hall continued their rivalry that is dominating the Mid-Atlantic racing scene on Saturday night, with Queen emerging victorious in Langley Speedway’s Hampton Heat.
After the start of the race was delayed almost three hours due to heavy rains, the fireworks began when Hall was aggressive with Queen on a restart with 31 laps to go.
The two stayed side-by-side for several laps. Hall finally cleared Queen with 26 laps to go, but Queen quickly jumped back to his inside on the next lap.
A caution briefly halted the battle. After spending most of the night in the top five, Riley Music lost a right front tire and couldn’t get back to pit road.
Hall and Queen raced so intensely on the ensuing restart that it briefly brought Peyton Sellers into the battle for the win. Hall held on and was eventually able to put some cushion on Queen before another caution came out for an Atley Wiese spin.
That brought Sellers back into the mix. The veteran made a three-wide power move on the restart to take the lead. Queen dropped to fourth afterward, while Hall settled in second and began hounding Sellers to get back to the point.
Sellers tried to hold on, but didn’t have the pace. Hall got back around him with 10 laps to go after a slight bump and run. Behind them, Queen was able to get back up to third when the caution came back out once again, as Ayden Millette spun out.
Queen struck on the ensuing restart, taking second from Sellers and then going back to the lead with five laps to go after bumping Hall for three-consecutive sets of turns.
That proved to be the decisive move. Hall tried to pay him back immediately, but in doing so opened the door for Sellers to challenge for second. He had to waste a lap getting clear of Sellers. By the time he was secured in second, it was too late to chase down Queen.
Frontstretch.com was able to catch up with all three drivers to get their view on the finish following the race, which apparently included a fight in the spotter stand.
“100% [I raced him like he would have raced me],” Queen told Frontstretch.com. “It’s never fun when you’re on the other end and I’ve been on the other end and, you know, I’m not out to get Connor, but it comes down to him and I, and I’ll race him how he races me.
“(His) spotter, while we were racing, went up and slammed my car owner from behind up there [in the spotter stand] and pushed him,” Queen later continued. “While we were racing. I just thought that’s uncool. He did it last year, too. He cussed out my spotter when Connor brake checked me last year on the back stretch because we were racing hard like that for 10 (laps).
“And, you know, when they do it, it’s all good. But when you do it, you’re the bad guy.”
Hall foreshadowed future run-ins with a simple response.
“I guess [I lost] by my back bumper, but it’s all good,” Hall told Frontstretch.com. “There’s gonna be a lot of good racing to watch coming up.”
When pressed if that meant Hall would repay Queen with the bumper, he reiterated that “There’s gonna be a lot of good racing coming up.”
One driver not in the race was not happy with Queen’s driving.
Sellers was just happy to contend on a night where he had to battle forward from outside of the top 10.
“I had no clue that we’d be in the same ballpark as these guys,” Sellers said. “By the end of the race they’re beating on each other and we’re running third, they opened the door. So I took it.”
Pole-sitter Mark Wertz dominated the early stages of the race and led at halfway, but lost lead for the last time on lap 127 to Music, who was followed by Queen. Queen took the lead on lap 130, with Hall eventually settling into second behind him.
On lap 21, Kaden Honeycutt had to pit for a mechanical issue. He was able to continue, but fell multiple laps down. Thanks to the high amount of cautions, Honeycutt was able to use free passes to get back up to the lead lap and finished seventh, keeping his hopes at a triple crown alive.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made contact with defending triple crown champion Trevor Ward after the field stacked the inside line up on lap 39. Ward would eventually retire during the halfway break due to the alternator failing.
“We were riding, we weren’t trying to race at all,” Earnhardt told Frontstretch.com. “I wasn’t trying to pass him or anybody for that matter. We’re all trying to stay tight because you don’t want somebody to go by you on the inside or outside.
“So I was just trying to stay close and we’re all doing that and something happened in front of him and he just stopped and I just couldn’t avoid running into him and turn him around. I really hated that happened. I was really angry that it happened. He didn’t deserve that and, and there wasn’t much I could do to avoid it.”
Earnhardt spent much of the race running in the teens before moving up into fifth place at the very end of the race. He followed Sellers and fourth-place finisher Landon Pembelton up through the field and into the top five.
“You never know whether you’re doing enough or too much,” Earnhardt said of how he ran in his Langley debut “I think I could have done a better job of saving, keeping that same track position, but not working the car as much as I did because it’s hard to say, it’s hard to be smart about it, but I love that challenge. It’s a great strategy in racing.
“That’s why I come to tracks where you really gotta take care of the tires because it gives me a chance. I think I can do a good job of that and I don’t think a lot of guys can.”
On the second restart after the lap 100 break, Millette missed a gear while restarting third and stacked the field up. Ryan Matthews hit Millette and suffered major damage on his Chevrolet. The two drivers, who had led at points in the first half of the race, ended up finishing well in the bottom half of the field, with Matthews having to park after causing a caution for stalling out on the track after the following restart.
Two legs of the Virginia Triple Crown are now complete. Queen will not be completing the championship, as he will be competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway on the same day as the Martinsville Speedway finale.
Of the 11 drivers still eligible for the Triple Crown, the three front runners in average finish are Hall (1.5), Sellers (3.5), and Honeycutt (5). Hall can clinch the championship by finishing in the top 4 in the final race.
Martinsville will wrap up the Virginia Triple Crown with the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 on Sept. 28.
Hampton Heat 200 Results
- Brenden Queen
- Connor Hall
- Peyton Sellers
- Landon Pembelton
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Woody Howard
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Chase Burrow
- Mark Wertz
- Matt Waltz
- Bobby McCarty
- Kade Brown
- Riley Music
- Brendan Pierce
- Justin Carroll
- Carter Langley
- Logan Clark
- Trey Williams
- Cole Bruce
- Terry Carroll
- Ayden Millette
- Dean Shiflett
- Thomas Scott
- Michael Rogers
- Atley Wiese
- Danny Harrell
- GR Waldrop
- Gavan Boschele
- Sam Yarbrough
- Craig Eastep
- Jacob Derrick
- Cody Bryant
- Ryan Matthews
- Casey Wyatt
- Trevor Ward
Virginia Triple Crown Standings
| Place | Driver | Average Finish | South Boston Result | Langley Result |
| 1. | Connor Hall | 1.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 2. | Peyton Sellers | 3.5 | 4 | 3 |
| 3. | Kaden Honeycutt | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| 4. | Kade Brown | 8.5 | 5 | 12 |
| 5. | Carter Langley | 11 | 6 | 16 |
| 6. | Landon Pembelton | 11.5 | 19 | 4 |
| 7. | Chase Burrow | 15.5 | 23 | 8 |
| 8. | Bobby McCarty | 18 | 25 | 11 |
| 9. | Trevor Ward | 18.5 | 2 | 35 |
| 10. | Logan Clark | 22.5 | 28 | 17 |
| 11. | Sam Yarbrough | 25.5 | 22 | 29 |
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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