Since the Halmar Friesen Racing/GMS Racing alliance began back in August, Stewart Friesen has been putting strong performance after strong performance. The driver from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario has made 24 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and has developed quite well since his debut at Eldora last season.
Despite not having the best truck on Friday night, it wasn’t the best truck that went to Victory Lane. If you take a look at the top 10, some unfamiliar drivers were featured including Cody Coughlin and Bayley Currey. Friesen was able to avoid most of the late chaos to bring home a sixth-place finish.
“We worked on a bunch of stuff and I never really got higher than sixth,” Friesen told Frontstretch following the Lucas Oil 150 Friday night. “I got bumped around there on that one restart and we came in and got tires. It was a good call, but we needed maybe two more laps to break into the top-three. We weren’t a top-three truck but we played some strategy and the Halmar team worked really good, we got out of here unscathed. There were some pretty close calls there, that was crazy.”
In the end it was all about survival and though the chaos ensued around him, Friesen would always manage to find a way to squeeze his way through. The sixth-place finish is Friesen’s third top 10 finish since the alliance began.
“I’m not sure what was going to happen, guys were beating and banging off of each other pretty hard and getting loose and you can get such a run there on the dogleg,” Friesen continued. It was good, we’ll take it, sixth-place and we’ll keep rolling and keep trying. It’s a tough game.”
There is no word on if Friesen will return next season as a full-time driver. However, with performances like this, he and GMS Racing will continue to be a threat in the series. Friesen is showing that the combination of talent and good equipment can equal a threat in the series and should he return with the GMS alliance next season, a victory could be just around the corner.
About the author
His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.
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Didn’t ThorSports Racing bring 4 trucks and demolished 3 of them in that race? What a bummer.
A devastating shop fire at the beginning of year and ending with 3/4 of the race trucks destroyed. No off season for them.