Nicknames are apparently no longer accepted as a nameplate on the back of vehicles in the NASCAR National Series. Saturday morning, The rear window of the No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD, which is being driven by Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, had a new nameplate decaled on the back from what the truck had displayed on Friday during practice for the Wright Brand 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“Butterbean”, the nickname that Queen is affectionately known as by his fans, was on the truck on Friday, but has been removed and his legal last name Queen has been put in place of the nickname. Frontstretch’s Chase Folsom was the first media member to notice the change on Saturday morning as he shared the change to his X.com account.
NASCAR had @TRICONGarage change the nameplate from “Butterbean” to Queen over night.#NorthWilkesboro pic.twitter.com/3dsnKvmSrW
— Chase Folsom (@cfolsom_racing) May 18, 2024
While official last names are probably what should be on the back window of race cars in the NASCAR National Series, as it is a professional look, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has carried “Dale Jr.” on the name banner on the windshield and back window of his cars for years instead of his official last name Earnhardt.
Likewise, names of injured drivers have remained on cars as fill-in drivers take over for them for sustained stretches of races.
Ultimately, the name on the back windshield will not impact the potency of Queen on track. And there is growing optimism for the driver, who is making his series debut this weekend at the iconic 0.625-mile short track in North Carolina.
Queen turned the fastest lap of anybody in the field during his first official NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice session on Friday. Queen turned a lap time of 17.911 sec. (125.621 mph), which was 0.039 sec. faster than his TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim, who was runner-up in the session.
RELATED: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Wright Brand 250 Practice Results
NASCAR Truck Series qualifying was set for Saturday morning, but weather washed it out.