Stewart Friesen moves into provisional Chase field after finishing eighth
NORTH WILKESBORO, NC (July 18, 2026) – Gio Ruggiero battled through hot conditions and an extended green-flag run to lead Toyota with a sixth-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Truck Series race North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Ruggiero led three Tundras in the top-10 with Stewart Friesen finishing eighth and Corey Heim in ninth. With the finish, Friesen provisionally moved back inside the top-10 in points with three races remaining in the regular season – Indianapolis Raceway Park, Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
North Wilkesboro Speedway
Race 15 of 23 – 156.25 Miles, 250 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chandler Smith*
2nd, Layne Riggs*
3rd, Shane van Gisbergen*
4th, Christian Eckes*
5th, Landen Lewis*
6th, GIO RUGGIERO
8th, STEWART FRIESEN
9th, COREY HEIM
11th, KADEN HONEYCUTT
15th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
17th, NICK LEITZ
18th, TANNER GRAY
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
Battled hot weather and scored a solid top-10 finish. How was your race?
“Yeah, it was definitely a hot day out. It felt really good to not fall out of the seat like some of these other guys. Thanks to everyone at the TPC (Toyota Performance Center) center for all they do for us and giving us all of the tools to properly heat train and be ready for this. I feel like it might have helped me today. Just struggled with the balance of the truck early in the race and at the end of the race, but my crew chief Jeff (Stankiewicz) made some good adjustments because we were struggling on the short run, and it made it better on the short run as you saw that last run there. Just tried to save some tires there and let the 38 (Chandler Smith) get away, thinking I would have a chance to get back to him later in the run because that is where our strong suit was earlier in the race. I think probably we were just a little high on air pressures to start off and kind of fell off at the end of that run. A tough day but battled hard and never gave up.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
