ARCA: Thrills, Spills, and a Butterbean Win at Daytona

Saturday's ARCA Menards Series Ride the Dente 200 at Daytona International Speedway was -- something. Truly. Whether that something was good, or bad could be debated for years, but in the end, it was certainly something.

The race featured plenty of thrills, and spills, and in the end, a man named "Butterbean" stole the show and took home the trophy, which he'll carry with him to his celebratory Waffle House dinner -- or maybe he'll utilize the hundreds of dollars in Chili's gift cards he received from winning the race to celebrate there, instead. Queen isn't sure, and after what we saw on Saturday afternoon, neither were we.

"Well, thanks to Chili's also, I've got about a couple hundred dollars of Chili's that I'm going to spend on the guys. It might be a two-for-one, but we're definitely going to take this Ride the Dente 200 trophy to a Waffle House, probably ride the trophy into the Waffle House," Queen said. "We're going to order a chocolate milk, and All-Star Special with scrambled eggs with cheese, and we're going to have a good time."

Either way, it was a big day for fans of Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen, as the ultra-talented Late Model racer, who sports a majestic mullet, held off a fierce pack of drivers, including his teammate and four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, over the thrilling final laps to pick up his first career ARCA Menards Series win.

"I am just blessed. Still processing it all," Queen said. "I don't know how you soak this in besides just take a moment. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, and I really feel like my whole career right now is the opportunity of a lifetime."

Queen made the final lead change of the race with a pass on William Sawalich with 10 laps to go. Sawalich, driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, maintained a second-place finish.

Jason Kitzmiller surged to an impressive third-place run, and Lavar Scott, who looked to have a shot at his first career win, settled for a fourth-place run.

The finish was without a doubt the most thrilling thing about the race.

As far as the spills throughout the race are concerned, they occurred early -- the 'Big One' took place on Lap 4 -- and often, as there were seven crashes during the 80-lap race. There was even an additional nasty crash after the checkered flag flew in the event for good measure.

Less than half (18) of the cars (40) that started the race, were running at the finish.

The biggest crash of the race, 'The Big One' involved 15 of the 40 cars in the field, and it was triggered by Cody Dennison losing control near the front of the field on the fourth lap of the race.