Dale Earnhardt Jr. congratulates Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen on winning the Daytona ARCA race

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave a shout-out to Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen on winning the ARCA Menards Series season-opener at Daytona. Queen drove the No. 28 Chevrolet to victory amid a chaotic race that wiped out half the field.

Dale Jr. and 'Butterbean' Queen are no strangers to each other. Before entering the Daytona race, the 27-year-old competed in zMAX CARS Tour, a late model stock car racing series co-owned by Earnhardt Jr. He even concluded the 2024 season with a championship.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen as the winner of the Ride the 'Dente 200 at Daytona International Speedway.

"The winner of the Arca race at Daytona today was the 2024 @CARSTour LMSC Champion @03Butterbean [Brenden Queen]," the former NASCAR driver wrote.

He later reposted a tweet from Blake McCandless, driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in eNASCAR, congratulating Queen on the victory.

"A true Dirt to Daytona story Congrats, @03Butterbean!" McCandless wrote on X.

Driving the No. 28 Chevy for Pinnacle Racing Group, Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen started the Daytona race from the fifth place. He stayed out of trouble throughout the 80-lap race, which saw DNFs from drivers such as Lawless Alan, Corey Day, and Cleetus McFarland.

Queen took the lead in the closing laps of the race. He held off William Sawalich, who had a late charge on the final lap, to secure his first series victory.

The Daytona winner was trailed by William Sawalich, Jason Kitzmiller, and Lavar Scott, respectively. Helio Castroneves, who is set to enter the Daytona 500 on Sunday, finished fifth despite being collected on multiple occasions.

While Queen is scheduled to race full-time this year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gearing up for a one-off entry in the Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier behind the wheel.

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Justin Allgaier invites Dale Earnhardt Jr. for more radio involvement in Daytona 500

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made history when JR Motorsports debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series and locked itself into the Daytona 500. When asked whether he would communicate with Justin Allgaier on the radio on Sunday, Dale Jr. said he would given the dynamics in the No. 40 team.

The team owner explained that he feels uncomfortable intervening in radios in the Xfinity Series operations considering the teams already had a strategy. But for Cup entry, he feels more involved, thus fans can expect him to talk to Allgaier during the race.

In an interview after the Bluegreen Vacations Duel, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said:

"Oddly, man, I feel totally uncomfortable doing that on the Xfinity radios because I’m around that group so closely. I don’t like to get in their way, the crew chiefs and so forth. They have a plan." [21:30]

Speaking about the No. 40 team for the Daytona 500 campaign, the Kannapolis native stated:

"But this has been ours. We've done this. This thing felt like I could just jump right in there [...] I felt like what I had to say would be helpful [...] It felt comfortable because I've been... I don't know... yeah, I'll talk, Sunday, for sure."

Justin Allgaier, the defending Xfinity Series champion, backed Dale Jr. and looked forward to hearing him on the radio.

"I'll be upset if he doesn’t. How about that?" Allgaier stated.

The 2025 Daytona 500 will start at 1:30 p.m. ET, an hour earlier to account for possible rain later in the day.