NASCAR
Stewart Friesen Dominates Texas, Yet Wins with Last-Lap Move
FORT WORTH, Texas – For the first time in over two years, Stewart Friesen is a NASCAR winner. The No. 52 Toyota for Halmar-Friesen Racing was the class of the night, leading a race-high 60 laps. However, Friesen restarted back in the pack late, having to methodically pick his way forward. Friesen made the winning pass over Christian Eckes on the last lap, taking his first victory since Phoenix in 2019.
While Friesen led laps early, the 52 would not take either Stage win. For both green-and-white checkers, Ryan Preece narrowly beat him out. In only his fourth start of 2022, Preece laid down the gauntlet against Friesen as a top contender.
Christian Eckes also asserted himself as a winning threat, taking the lead early in Stage 3. Eckes, Friesen, and others would all remain within a second for several laps. The turning point of this race came on a restart with 36 to go, as several drivers staying out saw Friesen restart seventh. After a very spirited battle for third with Ross Chastain, Friesen began to chase down the leaders. Thanks to a series of late yellows though, the 52 would line up second for an overtime finish.
The white flag saw Eckes’ 98 narrowly edge Friesen at the line. By turn two however, the 52 motored on by for good. Texas marks the third win of Friesen’s career, erasing a 53-race losing streak. This win also puts the Canadian driver into his fourth Playoffs.
🏁 RETWEET to congratulate @StewartFriesen on his @TXMotorSpeedway win! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/YUIti2vCKL
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 21, 2022
“Yeah I made all the mistakes I needed to make in the first two segments,” Friesen said. “We had an awesome truck. Thanks so much to Chris Larsen, everyone on our Halmar International group. There’s a huge office there that pulls for us every week, finally we got something to celebrate! Thank you guys. Thanks to everyone at Toyota, TRD, you have no idea what work has gone into this race team over the past three years. To build this all up. Trip Bruce and all our guys, it’s an awesome group of guys. We’re in the Playoffs now!”
Friesen went on to describe his view of the final restart. “When the 17 lined up with me, I was like ‘alright I got Preece, a real racer in my back pocket’ and he shoved the heck out of me. I’m terrible on restarts, and that was probably the best one on old tires. Just didn’t spin them, then threw a slider in [turns] one and two.”
Top finishers behind Friesen included Christian Eckes, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar, and Ty Majeski. The rest of the top 10 were: John Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto.
The Truckers return to the track next weekend from Charlotte. The NC Education Lottery 200 will go green at 8:30 p.m. ET Friday on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Friesen marked the fifth Playoff-eligible driver to win in 2022. Will Charlotte see a sixth?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR
