In his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Stewart Friesen is primed to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro will be making his 150th start in the Truck circuit.
A native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Friesen, whose racing career started with go-karts before ascending to over 200 World of Outlaws sprint car victories and over 900 starts in dirt events, made his Truck Series debut at Eldora Speedway in July 2016. Driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Silverado for Halmar Racing, Friesen started 12th but finished 28th in his debut after being involved in an early multi-truck wreck. He went on to compete in five additional Truck events for the remainder of the season, where his best on-track result occurred at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September after finishing 13th.
Entering the 2017 season, Friesen and his team, Halmar Friesen Racing, commenced the season with plans on competing in the Truck Series on a full-time basis. After finishing no higher than 19th during the first seven scheduled events, however, the driver and team did not compete for the following two events before returning to action at Kentucky Speedway in July. Then at Eldora, Friesen qualified on pole position and led a race-high 93 of 150 laps before finishing a career-best second behind two-time champion Matt Crafton. Remaining in competition for 10 of the final 12 Truck scheduled events, Friesen recorded four top-10 results before ending up in 14th place in the final standings.
Friesen commenced the 2018 season by finishing 27th at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck. He rallied with a strong, consistent run for the remaining 15 regular-season events as he posted three runner-up results, seven top-five results and 11 top-10 results. The results were enough for him and the No. 52 team to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs. Despite finishing no worse than 17th during the Round of 8, Friesen was eliminated from title contention. Nonetheless, he went on to finish no lower than 11th for the final four scheduled events as he capped off the 2018 campaign in seventh place in the final standings along with nine top-five results, a career-high 16 top-10 results, 188 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.1.
The 2019 season was a breakout year for Friesen, who started the season by finishing 10th at Daytona. Despite finishing 18th at Atlanta during the following scheduled event, he then posted three consecutive top-five results for the following three events before finishing 12th at Dover Motor Speedway. At Kansas Speedway in May, Friesen led a race-high 87 of 167 laps and was leading with two laps remaining before he ran out of fuel and ended up in 15th place. While continuing to pursue his first NASCAR win, he went on to finish in the top five five times during the following seven events. Then at Eldora in July, Friesen achieved his first NASCAR Truck career victory after leading 57 of 150 laps and capitalizing on a two-lap restart over rookie Sheldon Creed. To cap off the regular-season stretch with an eighth-place run at Michigan International Speedway in August, Friesen and the No. 52 team earned a one-way ticket to the Playoffs for a second consecutive season. At the start of the Playoffs, Friesen finished no lower than 19th during the Round of 8 as he transferred to the Round of 6. After finishing fifth and sixth at Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, in October, he then rallied from serving an opening lap penalty for jumping the start to fend off Brandon Jones and notch his second career win at Phoenix Raceway in November. The victory was one that punched his ticket to the Championship 4 round. During the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, however, Friesen finished 11th on the track and fourth in the final standings behind title rivals Crafton, Chastain and Brett Moffitt. Despite falling short of his first title, Friesen capped off the season with his first two career victories and career-high season stats in top fives (12), top-10s (16), laps led (256) and average-finishing result (8.5).
For the 2020 season, Friesen and Halmar Friesen Racing changed manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota while receiving technical support from Kyle Busch Motorsports. Compared to his previous two full-time seasons while piloting a Chevrolet and receiving support from GMS Racing, the 2020 campaign was a difficult one for Friesen, who posted nine top-10 results and finished no higher than fourth during the 16-race regular-season stretch as he did not qualify for the Playoffs. During the Playoff event at Kansas Speedway in October, Friesen skipped the event and competed in the Short Track Super Series at Port Royal Speedway, where he finished second. With three top-six finishes during the final seven Truck events, the Canadian concluded the season in 15th place in the final standings. In total, he only achieved three top-five finishes, 12 top-10 results, 31 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.7.
The following season, Friesen returned to the Truck Playoffs despite recording three top-five results and four top-10 results during the regular-season stretch. At the start of the Playoffs, he transferred from the Round of 10 to 8 on the strength of three consecutive top-four results. With only a single top-10 result during the Round of 8, however, he did not transfer to the Championship 4 round. He managed to close the season with a runner-up result in the finale at Phoenix in November and in sixth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series and racked up four additional top-five results compared to his previous season.
This past season, Friesen finished no lower than 16th during the first eight scheduled events. Then at Texas Motor Speedway in May, he overtook Christian Eckes during an overtime attempt to score his third Truck career victory and snap a 54-race winless drought. The Texas win along with a total of nine top-10 results during the regular-season stretch locked Friesen and the No. 52 HRE Toyota team into the Playoffs for the fourth time in their career. Despite posting three top-seven results throughout the Playoffs, including a strong third-place finish at Homestead in October, Friesen fell short of transferring to the Championship 4 round by a single point. With his title hopes of the season evaporated, he went on to finish fifth at Phoenix in November and cap off the season in sixth place in the final standings for a second consecutive time. Friesen also managed to cap off the season with a total of nine top-five finishes, 13 top-10 results, 130 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.9
Through 149 previous Truck starts, Friesen has achieved three victories, three poles, 45 top-five results, 74 top-10 results, 731 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.9. He is currently ranked in 11th place in the driver’s standings while trailing the top-10 cutline to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs by a single point. He has also racked up three top-five finishes through the first 11 events on the schedule, with his best on-track finish being a second-place result at Darlington Raceway in May.
Friesen is scheduled to make his 150th Craftsman Truck Series career start at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 3, with the event’s coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
