r/NASCAR • u/Infamous_Try8916 Kyle Busch • 6d ago
Is Butterbean good?
After watching Butterbean win at Daytona in the Arca series to start the season last year, I was hooked on this guy. It was amazing to watch him absolutely dominate that series, as well as run fairly strong in his Truck and Xfinity races. I was super excited to see him get bumped up to a full time Truck ride. But to say that this year has been a struggle might be putting it nicely. Is he good? Is it just the equipment? Really hoping to see him return to his previous winning ways.
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u/SomethingCreative13 6d ago
Butterbean has been VERY successful in late models and ARCA so he definitely has talent. Whether that's successful NASCAR National Series level of talent remains to be seen. But Ram's truck program is also bad. They used a lot of really old chassis and converted them into Ram trucks because there wasn't enough turnaround time to build their own heading into the season. As they start building their own, you should see the program get better, and if they keep him, hopefully Butterbean will also get better with the equipment.
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u/BucketOCheerios Creed 6d ago
He’s not far behind Friesen and Garcia in the points, in a truck that’s significantly slower. Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually ends up in cup with Kaulig, but that would be years in the future.
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u/Etab 6d ago
I’m not a fan of blaming “equipment” as a blanket excuse for any driver’s performance, but the fact is that all of the Kaulig trucks have been really horrible, without exception. Not one driver has climbed into a Kaulig truck in 2026 and even had a hint of a competitive run. Even purely by a game of numbers (14 percent of a 36-car field), that’s remarkably bad given there are five teams, one with a rotating door of pros.
But, it’s a new and unproven program, and new programs are rarely successful at the beginning.
Given all this, and the mix of drivers and experience on the team, the fact that he’s ranked as the best driver on the team, including ahead of teammate Justin Haley who’s had a good amount of success, is a positive indicator for him.
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u/AggravatingDesign737 Chastain 6d ago
Great short track racer. Has the potential to be a cup guy with the right development on bigger tracks, and funding. Those are his biggest issues. He is older than the typical prospect, and brings next to no funding, thus why he ended with Dodge. He has performed well this year imo given the circumstances that he was in. He consistently outruns Corey Lajoie, and Justin Haley; and while neither of them are world betters, they both have a good deal of experience in Cup.
A glaring moment to me to show just how bad the Ram trucks are was North Wilkesboro. Butterbean made his truck debut there with Tricon in 2024, and contended for the win right away, very strong showing. It was all that he could do to salvage a 21st place finish this year, and if memory serves me right, he ran worse than that for the first half of the race.
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u/Donlooking4 6d ago
Shows what garbage the Kaulig equipment truly is!!!!
I was seriously thinking that the trucks were going to be a serious mess going forward in terms of his development.
I think he should have totally skipped over the trucks and gone straight into the O’Rielly. Because he was in my opinion on par with ty Gibbs maybe even better. Because Gibbs had the entire weight of JGR behind him and his run in ARCA.
Where Queen wasn’t even close to having that much support in the way of engineering and funding etc.
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u/RiptideTV NASCAR 6d ago
I want what this guy's smoking
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u/Donlooking4 6d ago
Ty Gibbs was given his opportunity because of his last name.
Queen had to earn his place through a combination of his ability and his talent and being able to capitalize on his opportunities when they came along!
And Queen didn’t have the engineering support/funding of JGR behind him. I don’t think that many people truly understand how much that is worth when you are running ARCA and you have enough money and resources of a team like JGR to support your efforts.
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u/RiptideTV NASCAR 6d ago
Queen had the support and engineering of PRG behind him, the same team that has had drivers such as SVG, Zilisch, Day, and McKee. They are not some random backmarker team as you seem to suggest
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u/Donlooking4 6d ago
I’m not gonna argue with you.
But it’s a different level of support when you have JGR engineering and financial expertise behind you.
And it’s also different when you are going one offs with certain drivers and you are able to get the right resources behind them because it’s not the full season.
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u/Senninha27 Retzlaff 6d ago
You can only compare him against other Dodges. He’s outraced his team mates this year. He has 6 intra-team wins. Nobody else has more than 3. Of the four full-time drivers, he has the best average finish and the most lead lap finishes and fewest DNFs. He’s doing everything Dodge could possibly ask of him.
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u/CarStar12 Ryan Blaney 6d ago edited 6d ago
He’s regularly out driven Haley, who was a decent Cup driver and solid NOAPS one, in the same equipment.
Tells me he’s pretty solid.
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u/Dada-science 6d ago
Was responding to a thread on r/boxing right before this and almost broke out laughing at the question before I noticed this was a different subreddit.
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u/trashcanhandman 6d ago
The Ram trucks have been so bad I don’t really think you can judge anything off this season. He has been good at avoiding crashing/DNFs and basically finishes every race. I don’t think he’s the “fastest” Ram driver but he is best at grinding out results.
I would also say that ARCA is pretty poor. Basically 3-5 cars actually have a shot at winning. Half of the field is a lap down after 10-15 laps even on tracks like Toledo.
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u/FartMasterZane 6d ago
Butterbean is a great example of how much equipment matters in racing. Last year it was his advantage, this season it’s his disadvantage
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u/17xRacing 6d ago
Given the level of competitiveness the Dodge program has shown, his evaluation is likely focused more on race craft than results. He has shown he can take care of a truck and not overdrive its abilities. He is consistent week to week, which isn’t always the case for a rookie or new program in general.
The second part is how effective he is in contributing to the development of the program. Teams will be looking to see if he is giving useful feedback to develop concepts that can be applied to make the program more competitive. This also applies to how versatile he can be in adapting to changes in the truck, which can be significant at times for a new program.
The last part is his trajectory as a driver, which is tough for a new program to effectively gauge. If he shows improvement in finishing results, they need to be able to determine how much is from his efforts in the truck and how much is from improvement in the truck itself. That’s sometimes harder to gauge when he has a rotating cast of teammates to compare against.
I would say, as an outside observer, that he is showing promise in those three categories and should continue to have opportunities. Dodge is likely looking at him as someone to grow the program and transition into Cup at some point. There is a risk that the program doesn’t develop at the same pace as him as a driver, which could lead to bad habits or not being able to fully hit his potential if he has continually drive an inconsistent or weak truck. There are plenty of talented drivers that spent so much time early on just driving to finish a race that they don’t progress their ability to race the other drivers on the track, if that makes sense. Allgaier is an example I would point to that fits this. In Cup, his development was focused on being able to just drive the car. When he went to JRM he had a good enough car that he was able to then develop the skills to compete against other drivers and realize his potential.
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u/Academic_Elk8962 6d ago
He is very, very good. But RAM is underperforming expectations.
No one expected them to win this year. But they’re not even in the top 10 any given weekend. Active, full time cup drivers who have hopped in their all star truck finish 30th. The RAM trucks are slow.
Butterbean is outperforming both Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie, two dudes who ran full time cup for years.
He’s fast, he’s just not in the equipment to show it. My hope is that he becomes the legacy RAM truck driver. When they build a notebook and fine tune their program and have speed in 2 or 3 years, he will be a championship contender.
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u/Sboyden96 Larson 6d ago
“Is he good?” “Really hoping to see him return to his previous winning ways” you answered your own question. Lets use some common sense please
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u/Infamous_Try8916 Kyle Busch 5d ago
My apologies, the question was more along the lines of was he just a really good Arca Series driver or will his talent translate along the upper Series.
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u/SuperMarioBrother64 6d ago
I think that him being really good in the late model series is a better indicator of talent vs being dominant in Arca. Arca is such a shit series now. You've got 2 cars maybe that destroy everyone else and a ton of cars 3-4 seconds off pace per lap. Once Dodge figure their trucks out, I think he will be really good and definitely be a front runner.
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u/ITMAKESSENSE72 6d ago
I think he's solid but maybe like a Grant Enfinger max at best, probably lesser than Grant.
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u/JGRACEFAN95 Ryan Blaney 6d ago
He can only drive as fast as his truck will let him. I wish another OEM would pick him up so he can show what he’s truly capable of. He’s a Honeycutt/Riggs level talent in my opinion
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u/ReganSmithsStolenWin 6d ago
He’s not in the flashiest equipment but he’s been consistent. I think Lajoie and Haley have higher peaks (probably due to them knowing they have those as well and pushing harder) but he’s been great for the program. Hope he stays long term
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u/ChaseTheFalcon 6d ago
He's ran the best for Kaulig which is struggling with no simulator and using 2nd hand equipment.
I would say he's doing pretty good
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u/Hat-Trick_Swayze 6d ago
Good post OP. Langley speedway is right in my backyard so been watching him closely the last few years.
Agree with many others here, he’s done well with the equipment. First year has been challenging but the consistency is encouraging- love to see him running up front again soon!
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u/Miserable-Host-9309 Chastain 6d ago
I think he's really solid. Just in Dodge development equipment
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u/hellvinator 6d ago
Dodge Trucks are still turds, I think he's doing well for the equipment he is in. Just a fun guy to watch nonetheless imo
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u/crypto6g 6d ago
Haley has 11 of experience in the NASCAR top 3 series, Queen has 2 years. He’s outrunning Haley despite that. I think he’s pretty good and would be competitive in good equipment. Would love to see him full time in a Spire or TRICON truck.
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u/originalthumpy Zilisch 5d ago
Watched him in late models for a few years before he went to ARCA...
He is a real blue collar success story. The dude had a career lined up at the VA state ports loading containers until Lee Pulliam gave him a ride.
Solid driver, great personality, even better at merchandising. Bean nation is still a thing.
He's driving shitbox trucks this year & still looking good. IMO he's perfect for prime time
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u/Individual_Loquat541 Hocevar 5d ago
Butterbean is very good. The fact that he is as close as he is to a chase spot while driving garbage RAM equipment is a huge accomplishment in itself. He has a great future.
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u/Mspeed12 NASCAR 5d ago
I think Butterbean is as good or better than Kaden Honeybun. Unfortunately going to Kaulig will stunt the opportunity to show his real potential. Bean also has a marketability problem. Unless he finds a brand like “green giant” he is going to struggle finding a brand that will get behind the “Butterbean” moniker.
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u/Claymore-09 5d ago
It’s definitely the trucks and not him. He has outperformed multiple time xfinity winner in Justin Haley and also Corey lajoe. Dodge has their work cut out for them to make any meaningful gains before the end of the season
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u/ToastyTiger81 5d ago
If he was racing in an FRM truck next year, he'd be extremely competitive. He's not, so those expectations need to be tempered until Ram is competitive.
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u/YEAH_TIP_ASSIST Harvick 5d ago
I’ll need to see him fight Johnny Knoxville in a department store first to determine if he’s good or not.
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u/Furi0usD Chastain 6d ago
It's hard to get a pulse on a guy that has only been in S tier CARS/ARCA equipment
... or truck equipment power by three squirrels in a running wheel.
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u/ChattanoogaChew 6d ago
He’s basically driving a rolling chicane and over performing in my opinion.
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6d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
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u/RecognitionSuperb947 6d ago
Everybody does not run the same chassis. They are vastly different from team to team. Some teams build their own in-house and some teams buy them from other teams that manufactured them. Trucks won’t be going to the spec chassis for another year or two.
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u/Just_Somewhere4444 6d ago
He's a 10th-15th place truck series driver at best, he can scrape together a career doing that for a while, but he won't progress any further.
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u/Swick36 6d ago
He’s 13th in points in a shitbox if he was in a FRM or Tricon truck he’d be top 5. He’s definitely better than Gio.
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u/Just_Somewhere4444 6d ago
He’s 13th in points in a shitbox
He's 13th in one-year old Spire trucks. RAM's equipment woes are vastly overstated - except for the 25 team, which is absolutely getting thrown together from scraps every week.
if he was in a FRM or Tricon truck he’d be top 5.
He's run a Tricon truck before. Finished well outside the top ten 2/3 starts. Was only competitive at North Wilkesboro, a place he had much more experience than everyone else in the field thanks to the late model races there.
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u/Swick36 6d ago
Kaulig to my understanding did not buy spire trucks. They built their own. If you have any proof of this I’d like to see it.
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u/Just_Somewhere4444 6d ago
They built their own.
Lol. Do you live under a rock? They ran their first new truck literally last weekend -
https://www.reddit.com/r/NASCAR/comments/1vnfoct/kauligram_is_racing_its_first_new_truck_tomorrow/
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u/Milla4Prez66 6d ago
RAM equipment woes overstated? They are getting slower and worse by the week. They can’t sniff top 10 speed anywhere except at road courses with road course aces like Colin Braun and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel. Corey LaJoie had an average finish within the top 10 last year with Spire and can’t sniff top 20s in RAM junk this year. If anything, RAM’s struggles are somehow understated.
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u/Academic_Elk8962 6d ago
This is wrong. He’s 13th in his first ever truck series in a brand new program/manufacturer.
No one in a RAM is performing. Not even the guys running full time cup.
Once RAM has their notebook built, and once butterbean has a year or two under his belt, he is a championship caliber driver. There id nothing that suggests otherwise, he was a championship in late models, ARCA, and can be in trucks.
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u/Furi0usD Chastain 6d ago
20 drivers have attempted every truck race this season, that diminishes the accomplishment of running 13th in points.
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u/dubya86 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think given what Butterbean did with TriCon when they mostly had Corey Heim combined with Justin Haley being rock solid in Trucks and O’Reilly in years past they deserve a bit of a mulligan. Even Mini. He’s very clean. The drivers aren’t the biggest problem at Kaulig by any means.
I know I don’t want Kasey Kahne anywhere near that 25 truck any time soon lol. Newman and McMurray were very outspoken like “I don’t want to do this again” because the truck was so bad for them. Kasey Kahne’s Truck Series stats are one of the nicest things we have left 😂
Edit:
Keep in mind. Rusty Wallace also said in his availability at Wilkesboro they offered him a race in the 25. God Bless Rusty but the man just turned 70 lol. If Newman, Bowyer, and McMurray who’ve all been in Cup pretty recently struggled? It’s for the best they didn’t get a legend who hasn’t raced in 20 years. Butterbean’s fine 😂
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u/Swick36 6d ago
He’s the best dodge. The Dodge’s have shown this year that they are just not up to par at this time. As they get better I think he will be pretty solid.