Brent Crews fined, put on probation by ARCA after controversial Phoenix finish

Brent Crews was victorious during this past weekend’s ARCA Menards Series race at Phoenix Raceway. However, he’s been hit with a fine and put on probation for the rest of the season following a controversial finish in the desert.

The 16-year-old didn’t have a head sock nor a helmet skirt when he won last Friday’s event, according to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. Since that’s a requirement, Crews has been fined $1,000 by ARCA and put on probation for the rest of the season, he noted.

That’s a hefty penalty for the mistake Crews made. He’ll certainly make sure to have the correct equipment moving forward. However, the real backlash he’s received over the past couple of days has to do with moving Butterbean Queen on the last corner of the last lap to win.

At Phoenix, Queen led the most laps on Friday in what was the longest ARCA race ever at the track. Then, a little door bump on the final turn coming to the line was all it took for Crews to secure the win, but at what cost? There were a few fans not too happy about the finish, and even some drivers and others in the NASCAR industry online who questioned the move.

Still, Crews was defiant in victory. He knows what comes around goes around, and apparently he’s been keeping this in his back pocket since last season in the CARS Tour. 

“There was some hurt feelings for Brenden Butterbean Queen and I know he wasn’t pretty happy about the ending move, how do you guys race each other moving forward, maybe expecting something in return?” MRN Radio asked Crews, via Brett Winningham of Speedway Digest. He replied.

“Yeah, everybody that’s upset about it you can go watch the CARS Tour replay at Langley when I got cost [sic] the win after leading 110 out of 125 laps,” Crews said. “So, yeah, I knew he would’ve done the same thing.” This is not the only time Brent Crews will have to race Butterbean Queen this season. Will we see more intense moments between the two drivers this year? Only time will tell. 

Good news for Crews, Butterbean will have time to cool off. The next ARCA race is at Talladega, Crews is too young to race that track. So, it will be about two months until these two go toe-to-toe again. But revenge is a dish best served cold.

— On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.