NASCAR
Stewart Friesen Reigns Supreme in Truckers’ Michigan Homecoming
BROOKLYN, Mich. – Triple overtime, a massive crash, and a clutch win were just some of the highlights in the Truck Series’ Michigan return. Ending a five-year hiatus from the Irish Hills, Stewart Friesen capitalized for his first win in over three years. Nearing the waning moments of their regular season, the Truckers’ Playoff picture is upset once again with a winner from below the cut line.
Corey Heim continued his history-making season, sweeping both stages. The TRICON No. 11 made a last-lap pass over rival Carson Hocevar to win the opening Stage, and stayed out front in the second run.
This marked Heim’s fourth time this season taking both green-and-white checkered flags. Heim’s streak of leading in every 2025 start also remains intact through Michigan, now standing at 13 races. Stage 3 saw Hocevar retake command over Heim, and stay ahead of the 11 through a few restarts.
Heim’s day soon turned sour though, after his truck randomly shut off for a second at speed. This momentary gremlin would cost him a few spots. A timely caution allowed Heim to duck down pit road and be the first man good to go on fuel. The No. 11 would rally forward and be on the doorstep of retaking command, until a field-clearing restart crash happened with five laps left. This massive incident was triggered by Tanner Gray shoving leader Ross Chastain sideways into traffic. Heim and many others had nowhere to go to avoid the mess.
This melee sent the race into overtime, soon extending into double and triple bonus laps. The third and final OT restart would see the eventual winning decision made. Corey Lajoie opted against restarting on the bottom of the front row, allowing Stewart Friesen to take this spot. The No. 52 Toyota motored by Grant Enfinger coming to the white flag, and held on for a long-awaited victory.
2025 until now had been a horrendous season for the Halmar-Friesen Racing team. Now triumphant, the 52 crew erased a 72-race losing drought not far from Friesen’s homeland of Canada. A season-defining win for Friesen came after only two laps out front.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Friesen said. “Thank you to Chris (Larsen, crew chief), Halmar, Mohawk Northeast, TRD, all of our great sponsors, and all these badass race fans. I know there’s a lot of Canadians, a lot of Americans, everyone’s having a good time together that’s what it’s all about!”
“Obviously, at the end of this race, it got wild with different strategies. We had to be on the safe side as we fought handling all day, but we got it good when it counted. Thank you to all the race fans. This is the first place I came to watch a NASCAR race with my grandfather back in the 1990s and have a lot of memories. My parents are here and that’s so awesome. Thanks to everyone at Halmar, TRD. We’ll celebrate this one for a couple days.”
Behind Friesen, Grant Enfinger was second ahead of Luke Fenhaus, Ben Rhodes, and Corey Lajoie. Matt Crafton, Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Andres Perez, and Layne Riggs rounded out the top-10.
For the second-straight week, a driver outside the top-10 in points drastically blows up the Truck Series Playoff bubble. Only four open berths are left with five more regular season races. This postseason-upsetting victory also comes after the longest-ever Truck race by distance, at 278 miles.
Following an off week, the Craftsman Truck Series will return to action at Pocono Raceway. The MillerTech Battery 200 goes green Friday, June 20 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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