FRIESEN CAPTURES VICTORY IN WILD TRUCK SERIES RACE AT MICHIGAN
Locks himself into 2025 Truck Series Playoffs
BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 7, 2025) – After multiple overtime restarts Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Raceway, Stewart Friesen came home victorious in the NASCAR Truck Series race to lock himself into the 2025 Playoffs. The triumph is Friesen’s first at Texas in 2022 and the fourth of his Truck Series career – as well as his second with Toyota.
Truck Series points leader Corey Heim was one of the better trucks on Saturday, leading 29 laps and capturing both stages victories. In battling for the win late, the Toyota Development Driver was caught up in an incident at one of the overtime restarts and settled for an 18th-place finish.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Michigan International Speedway
Race 13 of 23 – 250 Miles, 125 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, STEWART FRIESEN
2nd, Grant Enfinger*
3rd, Luke Fenhaus*
4th, Ben Rhodes*
5th, Corey LaJoie*
12th, GIO RUGGIERO
17th, TANNER GRAY
18th, COREY HEIM
22nd, TONI BREIDINGER
28th, LAWLESS ALAN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
STEWART FRIESEN, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: Winner
How do you describe this victory today?
“Yeah, (my truck) certainly wasn’t good to start. Fought (being) free, then got on the tight side of it. Luckily, got enough cautions to keep working on it. We were swinging the pendulum back-n-forth on it, and then we just nailed it there for those last couple laps. Had a little bit of strategy there. Thought Corey (LaJoie) might take the front row there with Grant (Enfinger) and then I’d line up behind Ben (Rhodes) and just push the heck out of the top. Then (when the choosing occurred and he was able to move to the front row), I was like ‘I’ll take it,’ and try to get the best launch I could and we got a killer launch. Got in clean air and had enough speed to keep this No. 52 Halmar International Tundra TRD Pro up front.”
How hard is it to make the right decision on these restarts?
“It’s tough! There’s so much going on. 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 (Michigan International Speedway) 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.”
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 12th
Can you take us through that late race restart?
“Yeah, I don’t know. Have to watch the replay. Haven’t seen it yet, looked at it, (nor) talked about it as a team yet. Yeah, it’s unfortunate. We had a really good truck and not sure what happened there. Just felt like I wasn’t ready to go yet. I was right at the start of the restart zone. Just have to look at the replay to see what happened there. But so proud of these No. 17 JBL Tundra TRD Pro guys. They work so hard. Unfortunate I couldn’t get the win for them.”
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 18th
Walk us through your day today.
“Yeah, I think we had a lot of good pace throughout the race. Two stage wins and being able to control the race with the No. 7 (Carson Hocevar). Very promising. Thought we had the right strategy in the third stage, coming from back in the pack, and in position there on the last restart. Myself and the No. 17 (Gio Ruggiero) just didn’t link up the way we wanted to, and it went down from there. Huge thanks to TRICON Garage, Safelite, Toyota. Definitely had the truck to beat today. Just didn’t work out.”
TONI BREIDINGER, No. 5 Coach Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 22nd
What happened in that late incident and how was your race today?
“Really proud of the No. 5 team for their resilience today. We were in a strong position to earn a good finish, but unfortunately, things just didn’t break our way. It was an honor having Coach on board with me, and while I’m disappointed we didn’t get the result, I’m grateful for the effort from everyone involved.”
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