Brent Crews steered his way to an ARCA Menards Series victory in the LiUNA! 150 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 25. The win came following a late surge in he event’s second half as he outdueled dominant pole-sitter Brendan “Butterbean” Queen.
The 17-year-old Crews from Davidson, North Carolina, led 58 of 150 scheduled laps. Due to inclement weather, the event’s on-track qualifying session was canceled and the lineup was set based on owner points. Crews started alongside Queen on the front row. Through the event’s first half, Crews trailed Queen while intimidating him through every turn and restart. At one point, Crews got loose and nearly got into Queen during a Lap 22 restart.
After adjustments from his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team, Crews began closing in on Queen early in the second half. With 58 laps to go, the two ran side by side. On the next lap, Crews made the race-winning pass through Turns 1 and 2. Despite two late restarts, including the final one with 18 laps to go, Crews pulled away each time. He held a steady lead to earn his second ARCA win of the 2025 season.
The qualifying session on Friday was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, the starting lineup was set based on the current 2025 ARCA Menards Series’ owner standings. Brendan “Butterbean” Queen, the ARCA Menards Series’ driver’s points leader and winner of last weekend’s event at Dover Motor Speedway, was awarded the pole position. Queen shared the front row with Brent Crews.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Brendan “Butterbean” Queen began on the outside lane. He fended off Brent Crews and Lawless Alan and proceeded to lead the first lap. Crews then led the event’s first six laps under green flag conditions. The event’s first caution flew when the No. 85 Orlando Health Ford entry piloted by Becca Monopoli had smoke billowing from behind. She then pulled her entry off the track, coming to a stop between Turns 1 and 2.
The next restart on the 11th lap featured Queen and Crews battling one another from the frontstretch to the backstretch. Queen used the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4, muscling his No. 28 BRC Chevrolet entry ahead of Crews to lead the following lap. Despite leading to the Lap 15 mark, Crews trailed him by less than half a second. Alan, Scott and Kitzmiller continued to follow suit in the top five, respectively.
On Lap 17, the event’s second caution flew when the No. 96 JSJ Construction/ARYLCO LLC/StuffhebusKY.com Toyota entry driven by Jackson McLerran spun and came to a stop sideways and off the course in Turn 1. The incident occurred after Michael Maples, who had fallen off the pace and was out of the lead lap category, had his hood fly off when he was entering pit road.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 22, Queen used the outside lane to gain a slight advantage over Crew, who tried to draw even from the frontstretch to the backstretch. In Turn 3, Crews got loose underneath Queen, nearly getting sideways while lightly bumping against Crews for the lead.
This allowed Lawless Alan to make his move. He went beneath Queen and they raced against one another dead even across the start/finish line during the following lap. Both Queen and Crews would return to running first and second, respectively, on the track by Lap 24. Meanwhile, Alan dropped to third place in front of Soctt and Isabella Robusto.
By Lap 40, Queen, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, was leading by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Crews while third-place Alan and fourth-place Scott both trailed by more than four seconds. Meanwhile, Isabella Robusto trailed by seven seconds in fifth place while Isaac Kitzmiller, Lanie Buice, Connor Mosack, Andrew Patterson and Jason Kitzmiller trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Then on Lap 50, a multi-car wreck in Turn 1 that involved Austin Vaughn, Takuma Koga and Tony Cosentino occurred, during which Koga T-boned into Vaughn while jamming on his brakes while Cosentino got sideways to avoid the collision. By then, Queen was leading by nearly a second over Crews while Alan, Scott and Kitzmiller were scored in the top five, respectively.
Following an extensive cleanup session, the race restarted under green on Lap 60. At the start, Queen muscled ahead and cleared Crews prior to entering Turn 1 as he rocketed away from the field. Queen proceeded to lead the following lap before Crews started to reel in and make moves beneath Queen throughout the next lap. Queen, however, would slightly increase his advantage from one-tenth of a second to half a second by Lap 64 as he retained the top spot while third-place Alan trailed by more than a second.
At the halfway mark on Lap 75, a designed caution for a mid-race break flew, which allowed the field to pit uncompetitively for fresh tires and adjustments. By then, Queen, who stretched his advantage to more than a second, was leading over Crews while Alan, Scott and Robusto trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Isaac Kitzmiller, Mosack, Jason Kitzmiller, Mason Mithcell and Hunter Wright were racing in the top 10 while Thad Moffitt, Tyler Reif, Zachary Tinkle, Sam Corry, Lanie Buice, Andrew Patterson, Regina Sirvent, Cody Dennison, Brian Finney and Quinn Davis were mired in the top 20, respectively.
With 70 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Queen used his preferred outside lane to muscle ahead of the field as he retained the lead. Behind, Crews maintained second place in front of Lavar Scott, the latter of whom battled Lawless Alan for third place, while Isaac Kitzmiller led Isabella Robusto and the rest of the field from fifth place.
Ten laps later, Queen maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Crews. Prior to the next lap, Crews attempted to make a move beneath Queen through Turns 3 and 4, but the latter used the outside lane to muscle ahead entering the frontstretch. Crews then remained dead even with Queen through the frontstretch with 58 laps remaining before he used the first two turns and the inside lane to muscle his No. 18 JBL Toyota entry ahead of Queens. With the lead in his possession for the first time, Crews proceeded to lead by half a second over Queen with 55 laps remaining while Scott, Alan and Isaac Kitzmiller trailed in the top five.
With less than 50 laps remaining, Crews continued to lead by half a second over Queen while third-place Scott trailed by two seconds. Behind, Alan and Isaac Kitzmiller continued to race in the top five while Robusto, Mosack, Jason Mitzmiller, Hunter Wright and Thad Moffitt were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Following another late-race caution that flew with approximately 45 laps remaining due to Brian Finney wrecking in Turn 1, the race restarted under green with 37 laps remaining. At the start, Crews used the outside lane to rocket ahead of Queen and Alan to lead from the frontstretch through the first two turns. As Crews led the following lap, Alan and Queen engaged in a side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot in front of Robusto while Jason Kitzmiller led Scott, Mosack and the rest of the field in fifth place.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Crews stretched his advantage to more than a second over Alan while Queen, who dropped to third place, trailed by two seconds. Seven laps later, the caution returned due to the lapped competitor of Michael Maples, who had lost his hood earlier, blowing a flat right-front tire and falling off the pace through the frontstretch.
As the event restarted under green with 18 laps remaining, Crews used the outside lane to motor ahead while teammates Robusto and Alan battled for second place. As Crews led the following lap, Alan fended off Robusto for the runner-up spot while Mosack was up to fourth place. Meanwhile, Queen was mired in a side-by-side battle with Scott for fifth place while Isaac Kitzmiller, Jason Kitzmiller, Hunter Wright and Thad Moffitt followed suit in the top 10, respectively.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Crews stretched his lead to one-and-a-half seconds over Alan while third-place Robusto followed suit by more than two seconds. Behind, Mosack retained fourth place in front of teammate Queen while Scott trailed the lead by four seconds in sixth place. Over the next four laps, Queen and Scott would navigate past Mosack for fourth and fifth, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Crews added another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Crews maintained a steady advantage over Alan. With no challengers lingering from behind, Crews easily cruised his way around Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag.
The victory was his fourth career win in the ARCA Menards Series division and his second in the ARCA East division. It was his first win this season since his victory in the ARCA East event at Rockingham Speedway in April. Crews’ victory was also the third of the 2025 season in the ARCA Menards Series division for Joe Gibbs Racing and the sixth for the Toyota nameplate.
“[I worked] Really hard,” Crews said on FS1. “This [Joe Gibbs Racing] group did an absolutely, fabulous job at the [halfway] break there. [Queen] was really good the first half [of the event]. Honestly, I was doing everything I had to try and hang with him. I knew we had something. I knew [crew chief] Matt [Ross] and the [No. 18] crew had something up their sleeve to give me that extra little bit at the halfway break, and that’s exactly what [they] did. This JBL Toyota Camry was lights out tonight. I’m grateful to be here and excited to go run the No. 1 truck [for TRICON Garage] tonight.”
Lawless Alan followed suit in second place, trailing Crews by three seconds. Brendan Queen, who led a race-high 91 laps, made a late rally to finish in third place. Isabella Robusto came home in fourth place while Lavar Scott completed the top five in fifth place.
Connor Mosack, Isaac Kitzmiller, Jason Kitzmiller, Hunter Wright and Thad Moffitt rounded out the top 10 in the final running order.
There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 40 laps. In addition, 18 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 11th event of the 2025 ARCA Menards Series season, Brenden Queen leads the ARCA Menards Series standings by 26 points over Lawless Alan. In addition, rookie Isaac Kitzmiller leads the ARCA Menards Series East standings by seven points with two races remaining on the schedule.
Results:
1. Brent Crews, 58 laps led
2. Lawless Alan, one lap led
3. Brenden Queen, 91 laps led
4. Isabella Robusto
5. Lavar Scott
6. Connor Mosack
7. Isaac Kitzmiller
8. Jason Kitzmiller
9. Hunter Wright
10. Thad Moffitt
11. Lanie Buice
12. Andrew Patterson
13. Sam Corry
14. Tyler Reif
15. Mason Mitchell
16. Zachary Tinkle
17. Regina Sirvent
18. Cody Dennison
19. Quinn Davis, three laps down
20. Jackson McLerran, four laps down
21. Tony Cosentino, five laps down
22. Alex Clubb, seven laps down
23. Kadence Davenport, seven laps down
24. Mike Basham, nine laps down
25. Brayton Laster, 10 laps down
26. Brad Smith, 39 laps down
27. Brian Finney, 47 laps down
28. Presley Sorah, 51 laps down
29. Michael Maples, 61 laps down
30. Austin Vaughn, 101 laps down
31. Takuma Koga, 101 laps down
32. Matt Kemp, 130 laps down
33. Doug Miller, 140 laps down
34. Becca Monopoli, 145 laps down
Next on the 2025 ARCA Menards Series schedule is Iowa Speedway for the Atlas 150 and the penultimate combination event between the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East divisions of the year. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, August 1, and air at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
