HAMPTON, Va. — Two-time and defending Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway Taylor Waste Services Late Model champion Brenden Queen kicked off his title defense with a victory during the track’s Pepsi Opening Night on Saturday evening.

Queen started from the pole for the 100-lap Late Model race that headlined the action, but he gave up the lead on Lap 3 when Mark Wertz worked his way past him in Turn 1.

From there, Queen quickly fell through the field, falling as far back as 13th as Wertz led the way. Wertz got within a few car lengths of Queen to lap him, but Queen found a little extra pace and was able to stay ahead of Wertz until the caution flag waved on Lap 66 for a spin in Turn 1 by Chris Horton Jr.

The driver nicknamed “Butterbean” restarted 10th when the race resumed, and he quickly went to work regaining his lost track position while Greg Edwards moved around Mark Wertz to take the lead.

Another caution for a spin by Thomas Marks brought the caution back out, giving Queen another opportunity to gain positions during a restart after moving up to seventh during the previous restart.

Within a matter of laps, Queen made his way up to third, bypassing early leader Wertz in the process. Another caution, this time on Lap 74 for a spin by Dwayne Shreeves, gave Queen yet another opportunity to close the gap on race leader Edwards.

Queen moved around runner-up Nick Smith a few laps after the restart and shifted his attention to running down Edwards in the final 20 laps.

With fewer than 10 laps left, Queen made his move, pulling to the inside of Edwards going into Turn 1 to take the race lead with seven laps left. He led the rest of the way, eventually getting to the checkered flag first by 0.566 seconds ahead of Edwards to win the opening race of the year at Langley for the second straight season.

“I just stuck to the game plan,” Queen said after emerging from his race car in Victory Lane. “It’s so hard to let people go, but I knew it was going to pay off. I just stuck to the plan man, saved, saved, saved and when I was in jeopardy of going a lap down I picked it back up.

“I knew we were just as fast as those guys, just needed some luck. Got some cautions at the right times and had good restarts, good lane choices.”

Smith came home third, nearly five seconds behind Queen. Casey Wyatt was fourth and early leader Wertz faded to fifth at the finish.

Five other divisions were in action Saturday night at Langley, including the Old Skool Video Games Super Streets. Landon Abbott emerged as the race winner in that 40-lap event ahead of Gordon Weeks.

Hunter Waltrip triumphed in the Harris Truck Shop Super Trucks, Charlie Bryant won the 30-lap Parts Barn Enduro division race and Jacob Harberts picked up a victory in the Champ Kart class.

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series competition takes place on most Saturday nights at Langley through early October. Major events on the Langley Speedway schedule include the Hampton Heat 150 on July 23, a visit by the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Aug. 27 and the Shawn Balluzzo Memorial 100 on Oct. 1.

Watch NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series action from Langley Speedway throughout the season exclusively on FloRacing.