Brenden “Butterbean” Queen was phenomenal in ARCA Menards Series competition at Michigan International Speedway. He posted the fastest time in practice, won the pole and led 65 of the 100 laps en route to a trip to victory lane.
On the strength of his series-high third triumph – the only driver with multiple wins this season – Butterbean retook the points lead. Lavar Scott dropped one spot to second in points, followed by Lawless Alan, Andy Jankowiak and Jason Kitzmiller rounding out the top five in third through fifth, respectively.
Without further ado, here are the Frontstretch power rankings after the ARCA race at Michigan.
1. Brenden Queen
Queen has three wins and he could’ve had a fourth in the close finish at Phoenix Raceway. He leads the series in wins and laps led, more than double the second-highest (William Sawalich).
Thanks to earning the maximum possible points (49), Butterbean holds a six-point lead over Scott and is eight points ahead of Alan.
Queen’s Michigan victory was also impressive because of who he beat: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series multi-time winner Corey Heim. Queen successfully won by 0.313 seconds.
“Yeah, I always love, if you want to do this, you got to beat the man or beat the best,” Queen told the media after his win. “You know, this morning, I told all my guys when I found out Heim was racing, I’m like, ‘He’s going to be tough to beat.’ Like it doesn’t matter how the car is or what, he’s going to find a way, he’s got the experience, and he’s talented enough. We both came from Lee Puliam, so you know, that’s pretty cool. I’m sure Lee was excited about that finish.
“You know, for me, I just hope it helps my stock and showing that I can run with those guys if I have the right opportunity. And, like I said, be fighting for my life or fighting for my career, I should say. I feel like beating someone like Heim has to show, like, ‘OK, we got to take note of this a little bit.’ And, you know, I feel like that’s for the world to decide. I don’t ever like to talk about myself or anything like that. Hopefully, some owners and sponsors were watching and like what they saw.”
Queen’s celebration continued beyond the racetrack, partly because there is no Waffle House nearby MIS.
Instead, he and his Pinnacle Racing Group team ate at one back in North Carolina.
2. Lawless Alan
The top-four fastest racecars were separated by less than a second. Alan finished third, 3.702 seconds behind Queen. The final 24-lap green-flag run to the checkered allowed the field to spread out, but second-place Heim, Alan and fourth-place Gio Ruggiero all raced hard for second through fourth, albeit Ruggiero was the only driver besides Queen to lead a lap.
“Yeah, our day was good,” Alan told Frontstretch post-race. “I didn’t qualify the best, which hurt us. But I feel like over the course of the run, all four of us were about equal. It was just maintaining the draft, and I was a little too tight all day. Finally got it the best we were in the third stage, but just needed a little bit more in [turns] 3 and 4. That’s where the only place I felt like they were a little bit better.
“But all in all, a good day for our AUTOChargeIt Venturini Camry. I feel like third’s alright. It’s where I feel we could’ve run second; all three of us were the same speed, so lot of could-haves, but I’m going to watch the race tonight. I’m going to see what I can learn for the Truck race tomorrow.”
Alan finished 28th in the Truck Series race the following day, a victim of the large multi-car crash on the lap 122 restart.
Alan takes second in these power rankings on the strength of his Talladega Superspeedway win, plus finishing two spots better than third-place…
3. Lavar Scott
Scott finished fifth for the third time in 2025. He also finished fifth at Phoenix and Kansas Speedway. Scott has finished no worse than sixth in the sixth ARCA races in 2025 and has a series-leading 4.67 average finish. At MIS, his No. 6 Rev Racing Chevrolet just lacked the speed compared to the top four. He was unsure why.
“I honestly wish I could tell you,” he said post-race. “We were about full throttle the full race and still just got outpaced. I don’t know.”
Scott has completed the most laps, so his performance has him firmly in championship contention. One advantage he has over Queen and Alan is that Scott has been to all ARCA racetracks. He’s hoping that pays off with success on track and improving his position in these power rankings.
4. Jason Kitzmiller
Kitzmiller trails Queen by 54 points, but that’s partly due to him not running the Charlotte Motor Speedway race. The CR7 Motorsports No. 97 is sixth in owner points with 264. 264 points in the driver standings would place Kitzmiller in fourth, only 23 points behind the lead.
At Michigan, Kitzmiller took advantage of the lucky dog from the first competition caution to return to the lead lap, ultimately staying on it, finishing eighth.
Now we’ll see how Kitzmiller fares in ARCA short track races. Six of the next seven are at short tracks; whether he can succeed at those circuits will be a big determinant in whether he can gain ground in the points as well as move up these power rankings.
5. Tyler Reif
Happy belated 18th birthday, Tyler Reif! Reif is now able to compete at all the big racetracks on the ARCA circuit, and he began that at MIS.
He ran 25 laps in practice and was ninth quickest. He qualified 11th, slightly better than his team Sigma Performance Services’ average starting position.
Reif didn’t make any mistakes, and the race only featured the two competition cautions. He had the seventh-fastest lap of the race, exactly where he finished.
We’ll see Reif back in ARCA national competition more this year. He is slated to run seven more main series races, including the four combination ones with the ARCA Menards Series East.
Reif lands fifth in this list after, coincidentally, his fifth career national start. In those five starts, he has one win, one top five, three top 10s and an average finish of 8.8. Don’t be surprised if Reif is back in these power rankings in 2025.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Ryan Roulette serves in the United States Air Force and has carried VFW sponsorship onboard his ARCA racecars. At Michigan, his No. 67 VFW Ford stood out, thereby earning him the Paint Scheme of the Race Award.
Roulette gained eight spots from start to finish, making him the hard charger of the race.
Roulette, as one of the drivers of Maples Motorsports’ No. 67, has been respectable this season. He had a ninth-place showing in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and has improved his finishing position from his starting spot in three out of his four races this season.
Roulette’s results have helped the No. 67 stand ninth in owner points, notably ahead of Isabella Robusto’s No. 55 and the SPS No. 23.
The ARCA field stays in Michigan for the next race at short track Berlin Raceway. The green flag will fly on Saturday, June 14, at 7 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.