Mother Nature turned a side-eye to NASCAR’s All-Star festivities in North Wilkesboro this weekend. The Wright Brand 250 Truck race faced her wrath the most as rain washed out qualifying, and now heavy downpours have ensured the main event is postponed until 11:30 a.m. ET tomorrow. But a sad story also emerges about a rookie hopeful, out of Dale Jr’s CARS Tour, unable to make his debut. Brenden Queen faces two rain delays and an identity crisis, courtesy of NASCAR’s stringent policies, before his first-ever race in a top-three national stock-car racing touring series.

NASCAR forces CARS Tour champ Brenden Queen to lose his “Butterbean” moniker

The man they call ‘Butterbean’ in the Late Model scene, earned his moniker way back as a baby due to his physical resemblance to the 4-time super heavyweight world champion boxer, less popularly known as Eric Esch. Some might recognize the original ‘Butterbean’ by his red-white & blue boxing trunks, embellishing the American flag with a larger-than-life frame.

Some may remember him through his various appearances over the decades in pop-culture publications of all kinds. Regardless, Butterbean’s ‘nickname’ holds a deep connection for 26-year-old budding racer Brenden Queen, owing to his own story of earning the all-important alias.

But NASCAR’s brand-new Butterbean received a cold welcome to the big leagues, right after rains in North Wilkesboro moved his chances at defending the Window World 125 Late Model Stock crown to a future date. Adding to the CARS Tour owner-driver’s misery through the weekend, his part-time Tricon Garage #1 Toyota Tundra gearing up for the NCTS race on Saturday, faced scrutiny from the sanctioning body for paying tribute to his popular nickname on the rear windshield.

According to reports, the #1 team reworked the sticker “overnight,” after a rain delay determined the fastest Truck driver in practice’s P26 starting spot through the metric. This resulted in Brenden & Co.’s intended nameplate reading out his legal last name, ‘Queen,’ due to NASCAR’s existing rules and various car livery regulations.

Regardless, moments after the Trucks rolled off following Ty Majeski’s Stage 1 victory in the #98 Ford F-150, heavy rains ran rampant over the 0.625-mile speedway after lightning strikes brought out the red flag and a subsequent rain delay. The worsening conditions prompted NASCAR to postpone the All-Star festivities to tomorrow’s date, consequently canceling the qualification heat races for the Cup Series main event the same day. However, Butterbean would have been assumedly disappointed over his debut ‘double trouble,’ brought along by Mother Nature with her glorious sidekick, NASCAR.

Moreover, the NASCAR community online noticed all the details under a watchful eye, yet most fought in favor of Butterbean’s freedom of expression.

Fans call out NASCAR for nickname policing

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“NASCAR? More like the NFL, No fun league,” opined one diehard over the wider discussions on the NASCAR subreddit. Another made a careful yet controversial observation, writing, “Absolutely insane that this was a problem but they don’t make teams display the proper name when a substitute driver takes over”

Remembering the true origins of this now-iconic nickname, Reddit user Chevota_84 posed a fairly speculative question. Their comment inquired, “Am I the only person that thought perhaps the actual Butterbean probably has a copyright on the name? Is there info I’m missing that NASCAR made the change for other reasons?”

(@cfolsom_racing) NASCAR had @TRICONGarage change the nameplate from “Butterbean” to Queen over night.
byu/Spinebuster03 inNASCAR

Nevertheless, amidst all the understandable confusion surrounding the evolving NASCAR playbook, some seemed convinced of an ‘ulterior motive’, considering the previous use of nameplates on different stops by the superstars of the yesteryears in the Gen 6 car.

As one fan rightfully asked, “Did Tony Stewart not have “Smoke” on his car for a bit?” The grandstands are a vibrant community, and this fan cleared the dirty air surrounding this initial question with a simple one-line explanation. “On the roof rail (which NASCAR only lightly polices with the general paint scheme rules), not the windshields (which they do).”

This comment stood out from the rest, elaborating further with its carefully detailed take on the ensuing debate surrounding Brenden Queen’s nametag. “They used to change the nameplates for substitutes. Look at 2013 when Hamlin was out or 2014 when Stewart was out. It was better because then a casual fan had more reminders about the driver change.”

Dropping a steady bombshell, it continued to exclaim, “Even IndyCar changes the driver’s name on the car when there’s a substitute. NASCAR needs to get on board.”

As for the Craftsman Truck Series, the driver’s legal last nametag moved to the upper rear window in 2015 and has remained there ever since. But will the conditions affect his rain-delayed chances in the upcoming days? Only time will tell.