ARCA Power Rankings: Brenden Queen Still On Top

After a wild race at Daytona International Speedway to open the season, the ARCA Menards Series headed West to Phoenix Raceway on Friday (March 7).

The on-track action wasn’t quite as chaotic until the end of the event when a late spin on the white flag set up an overtime finish. Despite being two corners from victory in regulation, Brenden Queen lost the lead to Brent Crews on the second overtime attempt, giving the 16-year-old his third career ARCA victory. Queen ended up second, falling just short of starting the 2025 season with back-to-back victories. With that being said, how do Crews, Queen, and the rest of the Frontstretch ARCA Power Rankings stack up after Phoenix?

1. Brenden Queen

He did not win at Phoenix, but there’s no doubting Queen to start the 2025 season. Despite being new to ARCA racing, the 27-year-old has an average finish of 1.5 through two races and has consistently run inside the top five. 

The success at Phoenix isn’t necessarily as shocking as his win at Daytona, though. Queen cut his teeth on short tracks for years in late models, and it likely translated to ARCA. However, that transition period has been extremely quick, leaving Queen atop the points standings by 13 points after two races. He led 96 laps out west, losing the lead and the win on the final lap.

Looking ahead, Queen has yet another challenge ahead, another drafting track in Talladega Superspeedway next month. The remainder of the season has a plethora of short tracks on the schedule, which will play into Queen’s strengths throughout the summer months.

2. Lawless Alan

The start of the 2025 season has been quiet, but very consistent for Lawless Alan. He finished fourth at Phoenix, running inside the top five for nearly the entire race. Despite an 18th-place finish at Daytona, his race looked very similar there as well, though he was taken out in a mid-race wreck on lap 45. 

Alan’s fourth-place finish in the desert marked his best career ARCA national series finish. After running inside the top 10 for the entire race, Alan had a chance to pounce on the pair of late-race restarts but crossed the line in fourth, second best of the four Venturini Motorsports entries. 

Looking toward Talladega and beyond, Alan has experience on his side that many of his full-time competitors do not. Many of the tracks the series goes to in 2025, Alan has raced before in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. That, coupled with the stout motors of VMS, Alan should continue his consistency throughout the remainder of the season. 

3. Lavar Scott

The start of Lavar Scott’s 2025 season has been a near-mirrored image of the end of his 2024 season, the definition of consistency. After a top-five at Daytona, Scott followed up at Phoenix with a fifth-place finish, establishing himself in second place in the standings. 

Much like Alan, Scott’s race at Phoenix was very quiet, but also very consistent. He spent most of the event in the latter half of the top 10 but capitalized on the pair of late-race restarts to capture another top five. Dating back to last season, that gives him five consecutive top fives in ARCA races and seven of the last nine. 

Looking ahead to the next few races, despite his struggles at Talladega last year, he has success at Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, the following tracks on the schedule. He finished inside the top five at both tracks in 2024, as well as a top five at Kansas in 2023. Scott is primed to continue to keep the heat on Queen for the points battle as the series endures the first quarter of the season. 

4. Brent Crews

It only took one race for Crews to find victory lane in 2025, and he did so in exciting fashion, making a last-lap pass for the win at Phoenix. The 16-year-old kicked off his tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing leaving off where his predecessor William Sawalich left off at the end of 2024, winning races. Crews dominated the first half of the race, losing control near the race break to Queen. However, a late charge aided by two late restarts positioned him to pounce, and he did. He led 67 laps, second most only behind Queen.

Crews’ win marked the ninth consecutive race that the JGR No. 18 finished inside the top two, dating back to Tanner Gray’s third-place run at Michigan International Speedway last August. For Crews, given that he’s not yet 18 years old, he’s only allowed to run on certain tracks this season, keeping him lower within the rankings. He’s slated for nine races for the remainder of the season. 

Crews will now step out of the No. 18, allowing Gio Ruggiero to pilot the car at Talladega. He’ll return to defend his Phoenix win at Rockingham Speedway in April in the ARCA Menards Series East. His next national division race will be at Lime Rock Park in June.

5. Kole Raz

Through two races, Kole Raz, the 21-year-old rookie from Oregon, has posted the same result both times – sixth. Raz ran inside the top 15 for the entire race, working himself up progressively throughout the race, crossing the line one spot outside the top five. 

Raz had the benefit of going to Phoenix having run a race there prior to Saturday. Raz ran the ARCA Menards Series West season finale there last November, finishing ninth. That is an advantage that he won’t have for much of the season, never making an ARCA start at any other track on the schedule this season. 

However, at this point, there’s no guarantee Raz is in for a full-time season. Both he and AM Racing intend to endure the entirety of the 20-race schedule, but as of the last check, funding is going to make or break that plan. 

Paint Scheme of the Race

For the second consecutive race, ARCA teams showed out with their paint schemes.

Crews’ JGR No. 18, in a bright orange, popped on track, and Raz’s team brought a slick No. 76 paint scheme representing Cyclum Nextgen Travel Centers. Elsewhere, Patrick Staropoli had Syfovre on the hood of his No. 25 VMS entry, with a deep blue-and-white mix painted on the car. 

However, none marked up to another VMS driver, Treyten Lapcevich, who was sponsored by the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, showcasing a slick scheme that mixed bright yellow, white, and black to perfection. Lapcevich finished third in his series debut. Lapcevich’s No. 15 Toyota earns the Phoenix Paint Scheme of the Race Award.

ARCA now has over a month off before returning at the end of April at Talladega Superspeedway. The green flag will fly on Saturday, April 26 at 12:30 p.m. ET, with TV coverage being carried by FOX Sports 1.