Brenden Queen is coming to save NASCAR in a Ram truck

Welcome to The Gas, the official podcast of American Cars and Racing.

I'm Gary Gastelou.

If you're not familiar with American Cars and Racing, head over to AmericanCarsandRacing.com

after the show, of course.

But the name is what it is.

It's a news outlet that covers American cars, cars built in America, by brands from

around the world, and the U.S. motorsports scene.

And a little later in the show, we're going to be talking to one of the rising stars in NASCAR.

He's the 2025 Arkham & Arts Series champion, Brandon Queen, who's moving up to the truck

series.

And this guy has an amazing story that I think any NASCAR fan, any motorsports fan,

any sports fan, really anybody can appreciate.

A lot of persistence went into his journey.

It's not rags to riches.

It's hard work paying off.

You're going to hear a lot about this guy.

We're going to be talking to him in a bit.

Now, you may be thinking the show is called The Guest because my name is Gary Guestaloo,

but I'm not that vain.

And to prove it, let me introduce my co-host today.

He's an automotive journalist, a communications guru, and an all-around raconteur.

You may know him as Noons.

We know him as Alex Nunez, and this is The Gary and Alex Show.

Say hello to the people, Alex.

Hey, Gary.

Hi, everybody.

Thanks for having me.

The reason we like Alex, though, is because he drives a red Ford Mustang GT convertible,

and you can't find a more American car than that.

What year is that car, Alex?

It's an 06.

I think I get to put antique plates on it next year.

You bought that new?

No.

I bought it a year old.

One year old.

Actually, that's good.

You got some of the depreciation there, Smart Buy, but I'm assuming that's one

of those from my cold, dead hand situations.

That's unusual that way until you don't have a driveway anymore.

Yeah, that's pretty much a forever car.

There's no reason to get rid of it.

It's been great, and I expect it to continue to be great.

The Mustang's great, too, but its greatest days, I think, are behind it, not performance-wise

but sales-wise.

There's a new Mustang that's just been revealed.

It's not on sale yet.

It's going on sale next year.

It's called the Mustang RTR.

It's a very different direction for the Mustang.

It was a collaboration with Drift Racing Driver Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his RTR vehicles, which

builds performance parts, and they build their own Mustangs that they sell.

This one's a factory Mustang.

It's going to be built in Flat Rock and actually is oriented towards drifting.

Before we get into that, though, I'm going to talk about the Mustang in general.

I was looking at this just now.

In 2015, when the sixth-generation Mustang came out, they sold 122,000 Mustangs.

Pretty good year.

This year, they're on track to sell about 40,000, 45,000.

That's with the Camaro out of the picture for two years.

That's with the Challenger out of the picture for the past two years.

The Ponycar segment is really just, it's done.

It's never going back to what it was, is it?

Probably not because it's a truck market.

In fairness to Ford, talking about the Mustang, their enthusiast, it's not that Ford is

really embarrassed enthusiast vehicles.

All you have to do is look at Bronco.

Bronco, to me, is what the Mustang probably was 10 years ago in terms of a vehicle that

is sporty and aspirational and checks all those boxes.

Mustangs awesome.

The five-liter Mustangs are so good.

They're so fast, as you well know.

I expect this RTR to be great.

The EcoBoost Mustangs are a ton of fun.

The Ponycar segment is dead because it is.

Credit to Mustang for being consistent and never stopping production.

We're now in the second Camaro pause right now.

Dodge, I'm not worried about Dodge because we have this new gasoline power charger coming

back now, the six-pack.

I have a feeling that's going to find an audience.

Ponycar segment is not what it was just because I think that the audience is not what it was,

not even 10 years ago, much less decades ago.

I think part of the problem is that, obviously, affordability is an issue.

When you're talking about buying one car, it's hard to justify a sports car to anybody.

The most recent ones just are less useful than they used to be.

I had a 1989 Mustang.

It was a hatchback.

You can fit people in the backseat.

I loaded that thing up like a pickup truck.

It was an entirely useful vehicle beyond being a fun car to drive.

The new Mustang is not that.

The latest Camaro Chevrolet kind of shot itself in the foot.

The 2010 Camaro, that was the best seller for a while, was at least a decent size.

But then they went and made it smaller.

The backseat on the six-generation Camaro, completely useless.

The trunk was tiny.

It was expensive.

At that point, sure, I'm buying a Corvette.

Why am I buying a Camaro at this point?

The Mustang, at least, you can get somebody in the backseat now.

And of course, the Challenger was always a big hit because that was a size larger and

an entirely useful day-to-day car, even if you carried a lot of people around in it.

And the new one is a full-size car.

And they were really smart to do that because the Charger, a lot of people probably forget,

the last-generation Charger actually outsold the Challenger and the Mustang and the

Camaro.

But people were buying that as a muscle car.

They weren't buying it as a boring family car.

They viewed that as a muscle car.

And we're here and talk about maybe the next-generation Mustang will be a four-door, although offer

a four-door, which would be really smart.

Better still, this new Charger is a hatchback.

And it's enormous.

It's essentially a station wagon or a sport utility vehicle that looks like a muscle

car.

The appeal of it, if they can get the price down, is just so broad that it should

do pretty well.

Meanwhile, the Mustang, the board has seemed to have been taking it more into these niche

segments, focused on the GT, the Dark Horse, the $327,000 GTD, obviously a super niche there.

But now we come back to the Mustang RTR.

And they really went to town on this thing, too.

It has a new steering rack with a wider steering angle like drift cars have.

It has the drift brake.

It has anti-lag on the engine.

They didn't just put stickers on it and call it an RTR vehicle.

They put some effort into it.

I don't know what the market is for a drift-oriented Mustang.

Obviously, they're trying to appeal to that scene, which is more import-oriented, although

Vaughn Gettin Jr. does drive the Mustang.

So this has got to be it.

And he sells a couple, a year that they build over there, a couple dozen

I don't know how many they're doing these years, but they have a $150,000

version of an 870-horsepower Mustang that RTR vehicles build.

So people are buying them.

I just don't know if thousands of people are buying them, which is what Ford's

going to have to do with this.

Well, I mean, the distribution equation is totally different.

This is going to be sort of at Ford stores.

I mean, RTR, that's a very niche sort of boutique operation.

Those cars are super cool.

And they're really good at marketing themselves.

I mean, it goes beyond Vaughn's success as a drifter.

I mean, you can drive the RTR cars in like Forza and things like that.

So, I mean, the the name is well-established.

They do a ton of, you know, cool stuff.

I think the branding works.

I think the this RTR Mustang is very cool looking, which is that's

another thing that the RTR Mustangs are.

They all the subtle, you know, visual stylistic tweaks that those cars

have, you know, make them stick out.

So I mean, the real thing gets back to something you mentioned earlier.

It's going to be like, how expensive is this going to be?

You know, and do you get to a point where it's like, well,

just buy the equivalent five-leaguer car, you know, and and and just have that.

So, you know, is the audience there?

Remember, these automakers, they they don't go into these things blind.

I mean, we all like to sort of hammer them for some of their decisions,

product decisions sometimes.

But none of these decisions are taken lightly, you know.

So there's plenty of market research and, you know, Ford does

promote the performance end of of everything pretty substantially.

So this slots right into that that narrative.

And that is another part of what they're doing with Mustang these days.

Along with the production cars, they've got the Dark Horse R race car

and race series for it.

That's one hundred fifty thousand dollars.

They're selling those.

They brought into Le Mans this year and had a race there.

A dozen cars.

So that's been popular.

You could buy a factory Mustang GT four, a GT three.

They're really going up against Porsche, those types of brands

with the Mustang.

Now, look, it's still not a fancy car when you get in it.

I mean, even that GTD at three hundred twenty seven thousand dollars,

you got the same interior as you do a Mustang Dark Horse,

which is that's a big jump from, you know, seventy grand to three hundred

twenty seven thousand dollars without changing the car that much.

You know, at least like a nine eleven that starts out with the base version

that goes up to a GT three, you know, that base version is already

over a hundred thousand dollars and pretty fancy.

And then they do throw in the crazy seats and the extra trim and all that.

Ford, it'll be interesting.

They're obviously having no problem selling the GTDs.

We don't know how many they're selling, but they're sold out already.

And, you know, we saw what they did with the GT,

which still sells for a million dollars used and nobody drives them.

They all have twenty five miles on them when they show up at auctions.

This is a real shame.

And I do think the GTD personally, I find it more appealing.

It's more the American thing.

Supercharged V eight.

You know, the turbocharged V six that was in the GT was always

a little bit of a disappointment for a million dollar supercar.

But I think this hits the money a little bit better.

But nevertheless, when you look at the RTR, the work that went into that,

you know, a top spec EcoBoost right now is going to be about forty five

thousand dollars. So this is certainly going to be more than that.

Yeah. And I'm guessing fifty or more.

And like you said, now you're bumping up against nice GTs.

But Ford didn't say anything about maybe they're only planning to sell

a thousand of them, and maybe they worked it out and it works out for them at that number.

I mean, the the last sort of special EcoBoost Mustang, if you recall,

was that high output model that was out like two or three years.

There's going to be a scarcity thing.

I mean, these cars will probably be like very interesting forever,

simply because the audience for them is going to be smaller than,

you know, even a regular EcoBoost or even people still talk about the 84

SVO Mustang. Yeah, the reboot of that.

Well, and I recently was out driving and I saw one of those H.O.

EcoBoost cars and it I noticed it, but I knew what it was.

But it's like, can you identify that?

I don't remember what those looked like.

Yeah, they have a they have a badge on the on the fender

that is not on other EcoBoost Mustangs at all.

So the tell is subtle, but it's a tell.

And it's something you don't see.

So, you know, and you're not going to see a lot of these either, I don't think.

Let me ask you something else.

If you've seen lately, you've got the convertible Mustang.

When's the last time you saw another convertible Mustang

in the New York metro area up here, not in Florida, California,

but I don't see them anywhere.

There is somebody two streets up from me

that I see every day when I'm walking the dog.

They have the same gender.

They have an S197 like mine.

I think it's a it's probably a year or so newer.

But at least here around where I live in Connecticut.

And when I'm driving around, I see a fair number.

Really? I'm surprised. Yeah.

And in the summer, more so in the summer,

I drive my thing year round.

So, you know, whatever.

But they're not I see plenty of convertibles, frankly.

And in the summer, I see people actually using them.

So I'm thinking maybe you notice the more because you're in one.

It's that sort of effect that there is probably a little bit to that.

But yeah, nevertheless, not a lot of convertibles in general

for sale anymore, especially American cars.

And you've got that.

You've got the Corvette, which you can hardly even call a convertible

with that hard top retractable hard top.

But going back to pony cars being replaced by trucks.

You know, I think convertibles have been as well.

And you talk about the Jeep and the Wrangler.

A lot of people by those have no interest in taking them off road.

They drive them because they're talking trunks

and you can take the roof off them.

And yet they have much more utility than a convertible car would be.

So again, much like buying a truck instead of a sports car,

they make more sense than buying a convertible car. Indeed.

And it's funny. I mean, you talk about Jeeps and Wranglers, especially.

I mean, I see so many so many people by the hard tops

and you never see those front panels off almost.

I see I do see a lot of people with the soft tops flipped, you know,

flip back, you know, how you can do that on the Wranglers.

You can do that on the Broncos, too, where you can just flip it.

You know, so to free up the the air over the driver and for a passenger.

I see that pretty frequently again up here, more suburban,

maybe a little different than what you're going to see.

I mean, you live in the city, so it's a totally different deal.

Pretty clear, the trucks are the thing right now.

Well, as far as fun vehicles are concerned, people who don't drive trucks

don't get it. You get to pick up truck for the first time.

It just feels cool and it feels cool all the time.

And sure, people don't always use them for what they can do as a truck.

They're just cool to drive around in the same way.

An old school muscle car was cool to drive around.

And it's pretty clear that the automakers have been focused on them lately.

Million different trims in every brand.

And up until now, last decade or so,

it's been focused on off road stuff.

If you had a performance truck, it was a performance off road truck.

But now we're starting to see this creep into the street.

Performance trucks, at least the automakers are trying to do it.

You know, you got the Ford Maverick Lobo.

I drove that as a blast. Ford F-150 Lobo coming out.

Dodge is putting out a dodge.

I said dodge when I was talking about Ram.

And you know, there's a good reason for that because people still do that.

They're showing a lot more of these street models, at least as concepts.

I think in one situation, they're just looking for a new market to sell

trucks to. But I don't know, is there a natural street truck scene right now?

Or is this really something the automakers are trying to push on people?

I feel like it's something that the automakers are trying to encourage.

We are the truck capital of the galaxy, right?

The United States. It's totally crazy.

I mean, in my neighborhood alone, I probably need both hands to count

the number of daily driven Ram 1500s, F-150s, Silverados, Sierra's.

You know, that's just what most people, a lot of people are using as their

day-to-day vehicles. They're all stock or probably lifted.

They're not dropped street trucks.

Yeah, mostly mostly stock.

And well, and this is a thing as a daily use vehicle, a standard spec

truck with the factory, you know, ride height and all that.

That's just very practical for all around.

So it makes sense as a daily driver.

I love the whole idea of a street truck.

I think they look great.

I think that it is a super niche area to be in.

And so things like that we've seen, like this Mopar Direct Ram

that was unveiled about a couple of weeks ago.

The Fox factory vehicle 650 horsepower loads.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Body work.

Yeah, the direct connection work.

These are very cool and they're great.

I think the audience for them is actually smaller than probably

there is for a pony car, you know, like a Mustang.

Whereas an entry level enthusiast vehicle like the Maverick

Kramer or what's the Maverick Lobo?

Sorry, that makes more sense to me as a sort of gateway drug

for enthusiast motoring in general.

So I feel like that's more of a sweet spot than some of these street trucks

that I love and there is Ford could totally do something

like what we're seeing with this sort of aftermarket, you know, Ram.

GM could totally do something equally effective.

They're all racing in trucks.

So there's a way to sort of tie it tie it to that.

It really gets back to, you know, is there a big enough, you know, space for that?

And if you have a pony car, your Stellantis or Ford,

or I've got to believe General Motors will have something to fill that space again.

You know, pony car, muscle car.

Do you want to do a truck instead?

I feel like the market is either or not both.

And it's been 20 years, really, since we've even seen them

trying to do this, you know, back then we had the the good Ford F-150 lighting.

Yeah, the V8 one.

We had the Dodge Ram SRT 10, which was crazy with the Viper engine.

But those were very niche.

They didn't sell a lot of those.

But I do think we might be seeing some more common and interestingly enough,

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa was talking on the third quarter

or earnings call and he announced that there are some new SRT

Ram trucks coming soon.

Now, I'm kind of assuming one of them is going to be the new TRX,

because it could definitely fall under the SRT banner.

But I think you said there's two coming next year,

which leads me to believe one of them might be a street truck.

That would make sense.

I mean, you don't want to do two of the same thing, right?

And Ram is a Ram is a purely truck brand.

So I feel like this makes a little more sense in that in that scenario,

because it's just it's adding variety to a lineup

that is entirely trucks to begin with.

And the timing couldn't be better because in 2026,

Ram is re-entering the NASCAR truck series for the first time since 2012.

It's teamed up with Call of Gracie for the effort.

And it signed its first three drivers.

You got Daniel Dye, Justin Halley and the first one they signed.

Twenty twenty five Arkham and Art Series champion,

Brendan Queen, who joins us now on the show.

Congrats on the title, Brendan.

Hey, I appreciate it.

Yeah, it was an awesome year and super excited about the Ram opportunity.

Eight wins in your rookie year and the championship.

You're one and done rookie year, Narga.

That had to be the dream.

Yeah, it is.

It's I appreciate you reminding them that it's my my rookie season

because I don't get rookie to year because I won the championship.

So that was a little frustrating.

But in my eyes, we won that too.

I do want to talk about Ram, but I want to go back a little bit

to talk about how you got here.

Back in twenty nineteen, you actually thought you were going to have a full

time Ark arrived that didn't pan out.

How did you persevere after that?

What did you do to keep the dream alive?

Yeah, honestly, when I had that that whole thing fell through,

I just kind of decided that I was going to be a late model guy.

And I wanted to go home and just build my late model program to be,

you know, one of the greats where if I showed up, I had a shot to win late model races.

And that's what I've really focused on and spent nineteen trying to get.

We try to get things in order.

And then, you know, twenty, twenty through twenty two,

we won three championships at Langley in a row.

And you're one, the Hampton heat won the car store race.

So we had some really good success.

And that was all I really wanted to do at that point.

And obviously, you know, in twenty two,

things started to switch back to trying to make make it a career again.

And I mean, what a what a journey it's been.

And here we are.

Car store championship in twenty four.

Arca championship twenty five.

Are you ready for a truck championship in twenty six already?

Well, obviously, that's the goal.

I know easier said than done, but I don't see why not.

You know, we're surrounded by great people.

I know Ram's putting a lot into it.

And, you know, that's the goal.

That's why we're going to go.

We're going to go to try to win races and championships.

And I know it's going to be some building pains

and we're going to have to work through it.

But we got all season to get it figured out, you know,

we just maybe sneak a win or points our way into the playoffs.

And then once you're in, you just got to survive

and make it to the final four.

So easier said than done, but I don't see with all the people

we got surrounded at Collie racing

that we can't build some fast trucks and and go contend in the first year.

Yeah, I should note colleagues in Cup Xfinity,

but this is its first truck series entry.

Do you feel like you're building a new team there?

Or do they kind of have it going on already?

Well, kind of in the middle.

I mean, you know, it's a lot of a lot of new stuff

just because the truck series is their first time.

And me being my first full time season in it

and just kind of going through the motions

of how everything is going to work.

But at the same time, you know, they've won at the Cup level.

They've won at the Xfinity level.

So they're established and they have people.

It's just trying to put everybody in the right place

and and, you know, make sure everybody's in a spot

that's going to work for them to build it to be successful.

And I think they do a good job of that

because I've already proven it.

You've had an opportunity to do a couple of Xfinity races,

a couple of truck races for you.

Do you like the way they drive?

Or are you good with that?

Is the challenge going to be more driving the cars

or the competition in these higher levels?

I mean, I think the competition, for sure.

I love the way the Xfinity car drives.

I mean, that's probably been the most fun car I've drove

and and just having the horsepower

and having the small spoiler.

But the truck, the truck's going to be similar,

I feel like, to the Arca series as far as motor wise

and stuff like that.

But the competition, obviously,

I feel like the truck series has been tighter than ever

on on the top 15.

So I think it's going to have its challenges,

but just getting this experience this year

is helping me prepare for it.

How long ago did this start coming together

for you rammed it and announced it publicly until August?

Had you already been talking to them

or did this all happen after that?

Yeah, negotiation started somewhere in the July,

early August, was when we first started being approached

and getting kind of serious about it

and then spent the month of August to September

just going through options and negotiations

and I think we had it signed there somewhere

about a, probably a month, a month and a half ago,

before Bristol.

So I feel like that's partially why I ended up

in the XFINITY car too,

was to get some races with these guys.

Now, aside from being a good driver,

you're known for having a big personality.

You win the races, you get up on top of the car,

waving a giant American flag around.

You look like you're already in one of these

new ram truck commercials.

Do you feel like that was a big part of them

getting interested in you along with your skills?

I hope so, you know, I just try to be myself

and bring some energy to the racing world

that maybe they haven't had in a while

and try to represent my core fan base, you know,

all the blue-collar people and show them,

I'm just one of them.

I mean, we leave there and go to the wall files

just like everybody else and love the American flag,

love what it stands for.

And, you know, I hope that I fit the ram mold

and that helps hopefully maybe end up

in a commercial with the mullet flying for them.

You never know, so that'd be cool.

You mentioned blue-collar background.

I mean, just a couple of years ago,

you were working the docks in Virginia

as a longshoreman, is that right?

Yes, sir, it's 22.

I was working there and I was racing Langley

and Dixieland on Friday and Saturdays

and having to get people to cover my shifts

and just trying to do it all

and was gonna have to make a decision.

I probably wasn't gonna be racing much longer

at a full-time capacity

and luckily everything just started to work out,

you know, the state and family

with best repair company helped me out a lot

and got me to leave my job and pursue the car store

and they helped me out tremendously to get to this point.

I mean, it seems like one day

when they make the Brendan Queen movie

after you win the NASCAR championship,

that's gonna be like your Rocky Balboa moment.

They're gonna go back to that

and be talking about those days.

Yeah, it's been a journey

and I think it just makes you appreciate it even more.

You know, I don't fake it

and a lot of people don't know how my situation was

unless you were there and got to experience it

and it was a tough day.

It was a lot of sacrifice along the way

and I mean, I left my job.

I left a good paying job with good benefits

to go race late mile stock in the car store

where I wasn't making any money

and had no other option.

I had to put all the chips in

and I had to make it work

and I think that's why I drove the way I did

because I had to make it happen.

You think those extra years,

you know, if you'd gotten that Ark-A-Ride in 2019,

do you think you would have been half as good back then

or do you think those extra years really paid off?

I think it just helped me with maturity and appreciation

and it made me who I am and I sat there

and I thought about that a long time.

Like, man, I wish that I, you know,

could have had this opportunity 10 years ago

and of course I would have took it

but I don't change my story for anything.

I think it shaped me into who I am

and I learned so many lessons along the way

and I don't know if I'd be the person I am

without those years of trial and error.

So, you know, I'm content with how it's going

and just happy to be here.

Well, best of luck next year

and we really do appreciate you talking to us today.

I know, I appreciate you having me on, thank you.

Alex, what do you think of this guy?

I mean, to me, he is genetically engineered

as what NASCAR needs right now.

He is the perfect NASCAR driver

as this series looks to refine its footing

and find a new audience

or get some of its old audience back.

I mean, super likable, which is the most important part, right?

I mean, NASCAR is a very driver-oriented series.

The personalities are these guys that are behind the wheel.

He's got such a great story

and he's almost like an ad for, you know, the latter,

you know, going from, you know,

late model and car series champion to arcade champion

and he's gonna go right into trucks

and you've got to believe he's going to just continue

climbing right up that ladder

to the point where we'll see him as a fixture,

you know, you know, eventually in Xfinity and Cup.

I mean, I hope we never find out anything bad about him

because right now he's just the greatest thing ever.

And he's a good driver, you know, he's a clean driver.

People like him as a driver.

A lot of times you get people that are fast

and they have a big personality

but everybody hates him on the track.

He's a great racer

and the thing is the enthusiasm.

He just, you could tell he loves it.

And like he said, you know, he drives like he has to drive

because he doesn't.

I think that's one of the problems right now.

You know, NASCAR is missing a big star right now.

Chase Elliott can win most popular driver every year

but he really doesn't transcend the sport

the way Jeff Gordon did,

the way even Jimmy Johnson did.

People not into NASCAR are not big Chase Elliott fans.

They're not big Denny Hamlin fans.

You know, there's nobody really in NASCAR right now

that you could win on the same level

as an athlete from one of the other major sports

whereas 20 years ago you could.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I was talking to somebody last night.

You know, we have a sort of Halloween sort of display

and it was a local dad was over

and he was talking about, he brought up NASCAR

completely unprompted

and he was talking about how when he was a kid,

you know, you know, he was, he loved the three.

He loved Dale Earnhardt.

And then the next thing he said to me is like,

who are the big guys now?

So like this is the problem in a nutshell, right?

This is somebody who NASCAR had

who was extremely engaged, you know, back then

and now he's older, he's a parent.

He's got, you know, two young kids running around

my front yard when we were having this conversation

and he had no idea who any of the drivers were.

It's like for him, history ended

with like Jimmy and Jeff Gordon.

And I think that's the case with a lot of fans.

I think in the last five years,

NASCAR has just lost possibly forever

a lot of the old Garfans.

And I'm not even sure Queen can bring them back,

but who were those people in the first place?

You know, I think the younger versions of those people

are gonna find appeal to him.

The people who do race at short tracks.

You know, the people who relate

to somebody like Brendan Queen,

they might not be in the NASCAR right now,

but they're gonna see him and get excited about it.

And I think he'll bring those people in.

So it's sort of a new version of the old NASCAR fan

who NASCAR has lost forever.

This is let's just jump down a generation or two.

People from those communities who aren't into NASCAR right now,

someone like him getting them into the fold.

Yeah, I mean, younger talents

is also gonna be more visible in different ways.

So this sort of traditional NASCAR fan

is not necessarily gonna see these guys

on the channels that they are going to be prevalent on,

right?

You know, different social platforms and whatever.

But, you know, again, just anybody

that just listened to that interview,

like I said, super likable, super enthusiastic,

very authentic.

So the authenticity is another thing

that I think that that's something that traces back

to these guys that everybody sort of reveres

historically in NASCAR.

Whereas everybody right now,

and it's not an indictment of anybody,

but I mean, modern drivers are so media trained

and so, you know, so polished.

This guy is, when you hear him talk,

he's really, he's a great storyteller.

You believe it's everything that's coming out of his mouth

just feels like it's from the heart.

I think that resonates with people.

And over the long term, you know,

that sort of personality is what draws fans

and like sort of cements them to the driver

over the long term, get some buying their merch

and supporting their sponsors and all that stuff.

And he's a perfect marriage with Ram

because Ram is coming into this with that same attitude

and Ram is about to throw so much effort

and money at this thing.

And, you know, it's not expensive

to run a truck series team.

You could run one out of your garage if you want.

And even a top tier team, a couple of million dollars a year,

Ram probably spent more money on the advertising campaign

announcing it's coming back to the truck series

than it will all next season.

And it's going to spend a lot more on that as well.

So you stick Queen into those Ram ads,

those Ram promotions, and then if NASCAR is smart,

it'll get on the bandwagon as well.

All this is going to come together

and really just elevate everybody.

Oh, I have no doubt that NASCAR

will be on the bandwagon.

I mean, NASCAR celebrates any time

they have a new opportunity,

like a new manufacturer, you know, coming.

I mean, sure, this is a,

in a sense it's a returning manufacturer,

going back to Dodge.

But, you know, a new brand in one of their national series

is such a big deal.

Everybody is going to be promoting that very heavily.

Kind of reminds me of a couple of years ago

when Marcus Lemenis was sponsoring the truck series

with Camping World and Gander Outdoors.

And he got very involved with it.

He was like throwing money at the drivers

if they finished in the top five

or whatever it was like that, tweeting all the time.

And I think that actually probably helped

the truck series more than people really give it credit for.

He's moved on.

Krabson's back in there now.

But again, I think Ram is going to have that same effect.

Listen, the trucks, the bottom line is the trucks are cool,

but go to a truck race.

It's fun to watch.

These guys are, these guys go at it.

And, you know, I've seen, I've seen,

I've seen trucks on ovals

and I've seen trucks on road course.

And if you have not had an opportunity

to go to a race before,

I always encourage any,

go to any race, whether it's NASCAR,

IMSA, you know, IndyCar, you know, your local run-offs,

go to something.

But if you could go to,

if you can go to a NASCAR weekend

or go to a trucks weekend, very accessible, you know,

you're going to be able to get,

you're going to have a good time.

You're going to see some, some fun stuff.

And personalities like Brendan are,

are going to make that,

that night of the weekend really fun.

And once Ford and Chevrolet see what Ram's doing next year

and already is doing to promote this,

hopefully they're going to jump on that bandwagon as well

and start putting more effort

into the truck series promotions

and really could explode this series.

I mean, they sell more,

I mean, on one side of it,

everybody sells more pickup trucks

than they sell anything else combined, right?

Of the domestic, you know, automakers.

So in a sense,

do they really need to market

something that effectively sells itself?

No, but this halo effects,

in my opinion, are real.

I think Dodge, like you said, Dodge,

I keep calling it Dodge.

Stalantis is going to, you know,

take full advantage of,

of this sort of reentry with Ram into, into the series.

And I hope that that does rub off

on Ford and Chevy and Toyota

and go out there and have some fun with it.

You know, you sell a ton of these vehicles.

They are your most important vehicles.

You know, I know that this is

of the three step ladder of the national series

is theoretically the,

I'm using your quotes that you can't see,

the lowest step,

but they're racing your most important vehicles

in terms of everything else.

So hopefully you see that turn that you just talked about.

Well, it's going to be exciting.

We're looking forward to next season

and what's coming up with those production trucks as well.

Alex, thanks for being with me as always today.

If you want to stay on top

of all the latest NASCAR news and truck news

and American cars and racing news,

get over to Americancarsandracing.com.

We'll see you next time.

Brenden Queen is coming to save NASCAR in a Ram truck

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