NASCAR’s Ongoing Struggles Strikes Dale Jr’s CARS Tour as Outed Partner Jeopardizes Drivers

As if NASCAR Cup Series’ tire debacle wasn’t enough, now there’s also CARS Tour who have joined that list. When drivers revved up their engines at the Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this year, what they didn’t expect was tires becoming the ultimate arch nemesis. But that’s exactly what happened as drivers struggled with incessant tire wear that relegated even the best drivers to the back of the pack.

And it seems even CARS tour drivers might be headed in that same direction as tires continue to rule drivers’ race pace, with the latest victim becoming the 2023 Hampton Heat 200 winner Brenden Queen. 

Brenden Queen struggles with the whole new tire situation

Fan-favorite racer, Brenden Queen, faced challenges during the 2024 zMAX CARS Tour season opener at Southern National Motorsports Park. Although he had won the Thanksgiving Classic previously, he raced mostly outside the top five. Yet he was within the top ten positions for the majority of the event. In the final laps, an incident caused Queen to spin out, resulting in a P18 finish. Reportedly, the tire selection, particularly the allocation of a harder compound of the new Hoosier ST2 tire, played a significant role in affecting his performance.

He opened up on the same, saying, “I feel so bad because just the way we’re having a big tire situation right now in the CARS Tour. Like you’ll bolt on a set and be fast. And all you do is bolt on another set and half a second off. And I’ve gotten bit by it twice this year and is that what happened at what is that, Orange County. Oh yeah, I was fastest in practice, Friday and Saturday. Tried two different packages every time I went on a track. We put the qualifying tires on, and I couldn’t stay on the lap. It’s crazy.”

However, this is not the first time that the young racer has talked openly about tires being the biggest shortfall. Back in March, too, Queen talked about what went down at the season-opening race. “We had a good set of tires in practice, but the set I had in the race, I had felt like I was on ice and I was a half-second slower.  Hopefully, this week, we can get some good tires on the draw and not get the code we got the last race.  Whoever gets those codes will be running in the back,” Dale Earnhardt Jr’s CARS Tour racer shared. It does seem like Brenden Queen has suffered the short end of the stick as his CARS Tour chances seem to be slipping away. Currently, sitting sixth in the points standings as of May 3, the driver is yet to visit Victory Lane.

He entered last year’s CARS Tour race at the All-American Speedway. He captured the pole position and led the race, but a dramatic turn of events led to him finishing P11. Last month too, Queen was involved in a significant crash during the zMAX CARS Tour race, at the New River All-American Speedway in Jacksonville, North Carolina. This affected his performance significantly.

With 39 laps remaining, Queen was determined to keep his lead. He tried defending the inside line against Tyrell’s attempts to overtake. When Tyrell went wide on a corner and tried to pass on the inside, their cars made contact. However, both managed to continue the race despite some damage. Tyrell dropped to third place as a result. However, with 30 laps left, Queen crashed hard into the wall, significantly affecting his race day. Despite this setback, Queen’s previous successes in the CARS Tour at New River suggest he has the resilience to recover and maintain his competitive edge in future races.