The upcoming ARCA Menards Series season finale at Toledo Speedway is a weekend Pinnacle Racing Group general manager Shane Huffman has been eagerly waiting for.
Not only will PRG’s full-time driver Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen lock up the driver’s championship, but the program also leads the ARCA Menards Series owner’s standings. A finish of 18th or better from Queen at Toledo is all PRG needs to cap off a stellar 2025 with a clean sweep of the national titles.
In only its third year of operation, PRG has rapidly developed into one of the premier organizations across the ARCA Menards Series platform. Potentially earning two championships in 2025 is something Huffman attests to the commitment he and everyone at PRG have put in towards realizing team owner Mark Webb’s vision.
“Honestly, it’s humbling to see how far we’ve come,” Huffman said. “This was all just an idea in August 2022. Starting out, we ran a somewhat small schedule with the [ARCA Menards Series East] in 2023 and then expanding more to a broader schedule. This is our first time running for driver’s and owner’s points in the national series, so to be where we’re at is pretty amazing.”
Huffman brought plenty of experience and success to Webb’s upstart operation. Not only was he a national champion in the USAR Pro Cup Series, but Huffman also guided Bret Holmes to an ARCA Menards Series title as a crew chief in 2020.
It was during Huffman’s time with Bret Holmes Racing that he got connected with his future boss through Webb’s stepson, Connor Mosack, who was a part-time driver for the team. While talking with Webb, Huffman discovered that his race shop was briefly located next to one of Webb’s buildings in Conover, North Carolina, during the 2000s.
After debating their exact plans for what would become Pinnacle Racing Group, Huffman and Webb agreed to build the team’s foundation on the ARCA Menards Series platform. Huffman assumed the general manager role with the company, all while Webb enlisted Lorin Ranier and Josh Wise to help oversee driver development.
With so many experienced people helping get get PRG up and running, the results started coming in almost immediately. Luke Fenhaus delivered PRG their first East Series triumph at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in 2023 after passing William Sawalich during an overtime restart, a feat he repeated later in the season at Iowa Speedway.
The following season, PRG further solidified itself as a blossoming program with an assortment of prospects that included Mosack, Carson Kvapil, Corey Day and Connor Zilisch. Most of the team’s success came via Zilisch, who impressed many in the NASCAR community with seven victories combined in the ARCA Menards Series and East Series.
Huffman has enjoyed watching PRG’s early success, but emphasized developing the next generation of racers is the focal point of the team’s mission. Nearly all the team’s alumni are full-time in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions, which Huffman said reflects the culture PRG has curated in a short amount of time.
“That’s the [most fun] part of it,” Huffman said. “We’re just a building block in their process and it’s a big part of who we are. It’s hard not to get attached to these kids as they come through. I’m hoping Luke gets a full [NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series] deal next year and you have Connor [Zilisch] who is contending for the [NASCAR Xfinity Series] championship this season.
“What we’re doing is working and it’s honestly been overwhelming at times when you look back on who we’ve had come through here.”
The 2025 season presented a new chapter for PRG, a full-time campaign in the national ARCA Menards Series with Queen as the driver of the No. 28 Chevrolet. Huffman was already familiar with Queen through his Late Model Stock success and knew he had both the talent and passion to replicate that with PRG.
In their first race together at Daytona International Speedway, Queen survived an attrition-filled day to lead the final 10 laps and secure his first ARCA victory. The victory was a pleasant surprise for Huffman, but he had complete faith in Queen, his crew chief Steven ‘Steve-O’ Dawson and the rest of the PRG team to be strong right away.
“There’s no better way to start the year than with a win and you can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one,” Huffman said. “What bigger race to win than Daytona? I’ve had a lot of ups and downs as far as speedway stuff goes, so it worked out well. It set the tone.”
What followed Daytona was a dominant rookie season for Queen in the ARCA Menards Series. Entering Saturday’s finale at Toledo he has scored eight victories, four poles and 16 top fives. All Queen needs to do is roll out on track for practice Saturday at Toledo Speedway to clinch the ARCA Menards Series championship.
Aside from Queen’s success, PRG has also found Victory Lane this year with Austin Green in the program’s second No. 82 Chevrolet
Queen himself never doubted his ability to excel on the ARCA Menards Series platform, but he credited his 2025 success to everyone at PRG. He said the environment created at PRG helped him build cohesion with Dawson and his entire team, which in turn enabled everyone’s hard work to show up every weekend.
“It starts at the shop,” Queen said. “Those guys work so many hours preparing these cars. I’m the lucky one. I always get interviewed, but I always say they are the ones that should be getting interviewed because they pour their heart and soul into that car. They bring such a good product from the shop and make my job easier.
“We never give up and we never stop fighting. That’s won us a couple of races this year.”
One more race is all that separates Queen from joining names like Frank Kimmel, Benny Parsons, Iggy Katona, Jack Bowsher, Ramo Stott, Tim Steele and others as an ARCA Menards Series champion. If everything goes according to plan on Saturday, Queen will also secure PRG their first owner’s title as an organization.
There were times where Queen was unsure he would even get a chance to progress out of Late Model Stocks and into a national racing series. Being able to thrive with PRG and build so many relationships with his crew members is something Queen will always remember long after the checkered flag waves at Toledo.
“Honestly, it’s a dream just being a late model guy and getting the opportunity,” Queen said. “What a heck of a season it’s been. Coming out the gate winning Daytona and winning at some [other] really cool race tracks show how strong this Pinnacle Racing Group team is. The whole No. 28 team gives me a car each week to compete in.
“It’s really been a dream year.”
For Huffman, Queen’s potential progression into a NASCAR national series for next year further reinforces the impact of PRG within the industry. He has every reason to believe Queen will continue winning races in NASCAR if he applies the same work ethic and commitment that guided him to a driver’s championship.
While there is some disappointment that PRG’s championship-winning group won’t remain together for another year, Huffman knows the team will be ready to pick up where they left off in 2025. This plan will involve another round of expansion along with carefully deciding who to bring in to sustain PRG’s winning formula on and off the track.
“Our focus right now is to go to two full-time cars in 2026,” Huffman said. “In doing so, you have to bring in new people again. It’s a little tedious because we’ve already got an established group here and you want it to mesh well again. Luckily, we’ve had a lot of people come to us and we’ve got some good candidates for the crew chief position on down.
“The goal is to continue on our path, keep the same culture we’ve developed here so far and to keep our same mission, which is to not just build winning race cars but winning people too.”
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