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Stewart Friesen breaks dry spell with Texas triumph

It had been two years, six months, and thirteen days since Stewart Friesen won a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. On Friday night, he finally ended the drought as he led sixty laps and held off Christian Eckes to win at Texas Motor Speedway.

Friesen and Eckes, both Toyota drivers, dominated the race as they combined for 100 of 149 laps led. However, Ryan Preece—who led the third most with twenty-seven—was in the right place at the right time as he won the first two stages.

Preece and Friesen battled throughout the race, but the latter struggled to utilise the resin laid on the track. After the race, Friesen described this as “mistake number one. Then mistake number two was when we got with the lapped cars and Preece got by me again. Then I was like, this thing is good. Needs to be a little tighter and change the balance a little bit.”

Carson Hocevar entered the picture as the race crossed triple-digit laps. Hocevar traded the lead with Friesen and Eckes multiple times before Friesen, who received pushes from Preece on following restarts, found the advantage. A wreck involving Eckes’ ThorSport Racing team-mate Ben Rhodes resulted in overtime, where Friesen once again had a strong restart to keep Eckes at bay.

“When the #17 (Preece) lined up with me, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got a real racer in my back pocket,'” said Friesen, “and he shoved the heck out of me. I’m terrible on restarts and that was probably the best one on old tyres. Just didn’t spin the tires and got a jump then threw a slider in one and two and it stuck.”

Besides snapping a nearly three-year winless streak, Friesen now has three career Truck Series victories and his first since switching from Chevrolet to Toyota in 2020. He explained the win “just gives us all the confidence in the world now. These guys are confident and this is a good group. Our over-the-wall group was awesome. Can’t leave those guys out. We killed it on pit stops last week and this week.”

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
1352Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota149Running
2498Christian EckesThorSport RacingToyota149Running
3517Ryan PreeceDavid Gilliland RacingFord149Running
42042Carson HocevarNiece MotorsportsChevrolet149Running
51066Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingToyota149Running
614John Hunter NemechekKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota149Running
7251Corey HeimKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota149Running
8718Chandler SmithKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota149Running
92188Matt CraftonThorSport RacingToyota149Running
103425Matt DiBenedettoRackley WARChevrolet149Running
111123Grant EnfingerGMS RacingChevrolet149Running
121441Ross Chastain*Niece MotorsportsChevrolet149Running
132462Todd BodineHalmar Friesen RacingToyota149Running
14273Jordan AndersonJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet149Running
153132Bret HolmesBret Holmes RacingChevrolet149Running
161724Jack WoodGMS RacingChevrolet149Running
1761Hailie DeeganDavid Gilliland RacingFord149Running
182322Austin Wayne SelfAM RacingChevrolet149Running
192202Jesse LittleYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet149Running
203256Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota149Running
211961Chase PurdyHattori Racing EnterprisesToyota149Running
222930Tate FoglemanOn Point MotorsportsToyota149Running
232646Brennan Poole*G2G RacingToyota149Running
241215Tanner GrayDavid Gilliland RacingFord149Running
25305Tyler HillHill MotorsportsToyota149Running
26259Blaine PerkinsCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet149Running
27899Ben RhodesThorSport RacingToyota148Running
282812Spencer BoydYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
291340Dean ThompsonNiece MotorsportsChevrolet146Running
303545Lawless AlanNiece MotorsportsChevrolet145Running
313633Chris HackerReaume Brothers RacingChevrolet143Running
321538Zane SmithFront Row MotorsportsFord143Running
331816Tyler AnkrumHattori Racing EnterprisesToyota139Overheating
343391Colby HowardMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet139Running
351644Kris WrightNiece MotorsportsChevrolet106Accident
36919Derek KrausMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet88Accident
DNQ20Garrett Smithley*Young’s MotorsportsChevrolet
DNQ43Armani WilliamsReaume Brothers RacingToyota
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points

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