America’s Hottest Race has arrived.
For the 17th time in Langley Speedway history, Late Model Stock cars racing’s best will travel to Hampton, Va., this Saturday (July 19) night for a 200-lap display of short track endurance.
The Hampton Heat 200 serves as the second leg of the Virginia Triple Crown, slotting between South Boston’s Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 and the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville.
With South Boston already complete, the attention now turns to Langley to see who can conquer the next crown jewel event and who can put themselves in the best position to take home the $20,000 top prize for the Triple Crown at Martinsville.
The temperature is high. The stakes are higher.
Here are a few stories to follow this Saturday night at Langley.
Connor Hall In The Driver’s Seat For Triple Crown Title
There’s a stacked field of drivers set to be at Langley – 39 of them, to be exact.
But none of them have more momentum going into Langley than Connor Hall.
Just last month, Hall picked up his second-consecutive South Boston 200 win, giving him the early lead in the Triple Crown Standings.
Driving for JR Motorsports, with a 1.0 average finish in the Triple Crown so far and headed to his home racetrack, Hall is looking for his second Hampton Heat win. And all signs indicate that the Virginian will be in the mix.
The 2023 Langley track champion last won Hampton Heat back in 2019, so it’s been awhile. But Hall has finished second three times since that last win, including the past two years, so he’s due to be one spot better.
With Hall sitting first in the standings and many of the heavy hitters finding trouble at South Boston, this Triple Crown championship feels like it’s Hall’s to lose. He’s already locked into Martinsville and a win at Langley could put most others out of reach before haulers even arrive at the paperclip-shaped track in September.
It seems as though the only thing that could stop Hall at Langley this year is the man who’s gotten the best of him the past two years, and he’s gone full-time ARCA Menards Series racing.
The only problem for Hall is, he’s back this week.
Butterbean Makes His Late Model Return
You read that correctly, Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen is back in a Late Model Stock car this weekend – and he’s playing with house money.
Queen hasn’t competed in a Late Model Stock car since the Thanksgiving Classic this past December. Since then, he’s amassed three ARCA wins in his rookie season, including the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, to place himself atop the series standings.
Queen will race the ARCA car Friday afternoon at Dover Motor Speedway before making the trip back down to his home track of Langley and reuniting with team owner Lee Pulliam for Hampton Heat.
The pairing is looking for a three-peat. After picking up win number one in 2020, Queen got the better of Hall for Hampton Heat wins in 2023 and 2024, giving him three total victories in the event.
The three-time Langley track champion will look to pick up his fourth on Saturday, which would break a tie with C.E. Falk III for the most in Hampton Heat history.
As mentioned before, Queen is playing with house money here. He’s got nothing to lose. The 27-year-old isn’t running for the Triple Crown after not racing South Boston. He doesn’t have to race any of these drivers full-time for the rest of the year. All that’s up for grabs is a three-peat in his home track’s biggest race and bragging rights.
However, there could be one other driving factor for Queen on Saturday.
Should he win, he’d be locked in to the ValleyStar 300 at Martinsville later this year. As of now, Queen has no plans to run the event, as qualifying at Martinsville always takes place on Friday night, conflicting with the ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas Speedway (Sept. 26).
With a win and a guaranteed starting spot, Queen doesn’t necessarily have to be present for qualifying on Friday. He wouldn’t even have to deal with the chaos of heat races, so long as he and the team would be willing to accept starting the race from the back of the field.
If there’s a scenario that lands Queen in second or third in the late stages at Langley, don’t think for a second that Butterbean doesn’t have motivation to muscle his way to the front.
Matt Waltz Looking To Rebound
In just a matter of days, Matt Waltz‘s bid at the Virginia Triple Crown fell apart.
Waltz crossed the line second on June 28 at South Boston, arguably having the fastest car of the night. But on the following Tuesday (July 1), South Boston disqualified Waltz over an infraction with the rear axle of the Waltz Racing No. 2.
And thus, his Virginia Triple Crown hopes came to a shocking end. But despite the frustration, there’s no way to change the past. The decision was made and what’s done is done. The only thing Waltz can do now is try and get back to victory lane.
That’s exactly what the mission will be on Saturday night.
The 2017 Langley track champion has shown tons of speed in 2025. Waltz won the pole for the zMAX CARS Tour event at Langley back in May, earning a career best finish of 3rd at night’s end.
Add two wins in weekly competition to the 2025 Langley resume and it’s clear Waltz will be one of the favorites going into Saturday night. A win won’t replace the disappointment from South Boston, but it could help put that behind him with a guaranteed spot at Martinsville also on the line.
He’ll likely have to compete with Queen and Hall at the front. But if any of the locals can top the two stars, a hungry Waltz may just be the guy.
Virginia Triple Crown Points Standings
- Connor Hall (1.0)
- Darren Krantz Jr. (2.0)
- Parker Eatmon (3.0)
- Ryan Millington (4.0)
- Ronnie Bassett Jr. (5.0)
- Tate Fogleman (6.0)
- Doug Barnes Jr. (7.0)
- Brandon Pierce (8.0)
- Woody Howard (9.0)
- Conner Jones (10.0)
2025 Hampton Heat Entry List
No. 00: Chase Burrow
No. 03: Brenden Queen
No. 04: Ronnie Bassett Jr.
No. 05: Mason Bailey
No. 08: Cody Bryant
No. 08: Deac McCaskill
No. 0: Landon Pembelton
No. 2: Brandon Pierce
No. 2: Matt Waltz
No. 3: Trey Williams
No. 4: Kade Brown
No. 5: Jonathan Shafer
No. 6: Bobby McCarty
No. 8: Tate Fogleman
No. 9: Ayden Millette
No. 12: Trevor Ward
No. 15: Ryan Millington
No. 17: Daniel Silvestri
No. 21: Greg Edwards
No. 22: Carson Loftin
No. 25: Craig Eastep
No. 26: Peyton Sellers
No. 28: Dustin Storm
No. 38: Andrew Condrey
No. 41: Woody Howard
No. 42: Chris Horton Jr.
No. 47: Ryley Music
No. 50: London McKenzie
No. 51: Ryan Mathews
No. 57: Chase Johnson
No. 71: Parker Eatmon
No. 77: Darren Krantz Jr.
No. 77: Blake Stallings
No. 78: Atley Weise
No. 88: Doug Barnes Jr.
No. 88: Jacob Derrick
No. 88: Connor Hall
No. 91: Justin Carroll
No. 95: Sam Yarbrough
The 17th Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway is scheduled for Saturday, July 19. Coverage can be found live on FloRacing starting at 4:00 p.m. ET, with racing scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.
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.