In his 10th season with at least one start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, Stewart Friesen is scheduled to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing (HFR) Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry will make his 200th career start in the Truck division.
A native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, Friesen is an accomplished Super DIRTcar Series competitor. He is also a four-time champion of the Race of Champions Dirt Modified Tour division. He made his inaugural appearance in the Truck Series at Eldora Speedway in July 2016.
Driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Silverado for Halmar Racing, his co-owned organization, Friesen started 12th and finished 28th in his NASCAR debut. And, he did so after being involved in an early multi-truck wreck. He competed in five additional Truck events throughout the 2016 campaign. His season-best 13th-place result came at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.
The following season, Friesen and HFR initially entered the Truck Series as a full-time team. Their intention was to compete for both the series’ Playoffs and championship battle. Unfortunately, he finished no higher than 19th during the first seven scheduled events. Then, the duo did not compete for the following two events.
They returned to action at Kentucky Speedway in July, where Freisen finished 12th. During the following event at Eldora, Friesen qualified on the pole and led a race-high 93 of 150 laps. He finished a career-best second place. He competed in 10 of the final 12 events, recorded four top-10 results, and finished 14th in the final standings.
Friesen’s 2018 Truck Series season commenced with the driver finishing 27th at Daytona International Speedwa after he was involved in a late multi-truck wreck. He rallied by posting three runner-up results, seven top-five results and 11 top-10 results through the remaining 15 regular-season events. The consistent results generated by Friesen and the No. 52 HFR Chevrolet team were enough for the duo to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs.
This marked Friesen’s first NASCAR postseason entrance for the title. His title hopes, however, came to an early end. He was eliminated from Playoff contention following the Round of 8 after finishing seventh, 17th and sixth throughout the round.
He finished no lower than 11th for the final four scheduled events. Friesen capped off the 2018 campaign in seventh place in the final standings. By then, he quadrupled his accumulated top-five results in a season from two to nine. He also tripled his top-10 results from five to 16 and led 85 more laps than in his previous season. Plus, he boosted his average-finishing result from 17.2 to 9.1.
The 2019 Truck Series season was a breakout year for Friesen. He commenced the year by finishing 10th at Daytona. Friesen then logged in three consecutive top-five results over his next five starts. At Kansas Speedway in May, he led a race-high 87 of 167 laps and was leading with two laps remaining. However, he ran out of fuel due to an earlier pit road miscommunication and drifted back to 15th place.
Eight races and five additional top-five finishes later, Friesen achieved his first elusive NASCAR Truck Series career victory at Eldora after leading 57 of 150 laps and persevering through a two-lap restart. The Eldora victory all but guaranteed Friesen and his No. 52 HFR team a spot in the 2019 Truck Series Playoffs.
Friesen commenced the 2019 Playoffs by finishing no lower than 19th during the Round of 8 as he transferred to the Round of 6. Then, after finishing fifth and sixth at Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, in October, he notched his second career win at Phoenix Raceway in November. Friesen’s victory occurred after he rallied from serving an opening lap penalty for jumping the restart prior to pole-sitter Austin Hill touching the start/finish line as the control competitor.
Friesen’s victory was not only his first on a paved oval event in NASCAR competition. It also guaranteed him a Championship 4 berth for the season-finale championship event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Friesen, however, would finish in 11th place on the track at Homestead and in fourth place in the final standings. The series’ champion, Matt Crafton, along with title rivals Ross Chastain and Brett Moffitt, claimed the top three spots.
Overall, Friesen capped off the 2019 season with career-high season stats. He achieved 12 top fives and 16 top 10s. He led 256 laps and had an average finish of 8.5 to go along with his first two career victories.
The 2020 Truck Series season was a difficult campaign for Friesen, who began the year with high expectations. He formed a technical alliance with Kyle Busch Motorsports and changed manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota. He began his on-track action by finishing 21st at Daytona. But the driver of the No. 52 HFR entry would only register nine top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch.
Despite finishing fourth at Texas Motor Speedway in July and fifth at World Wide Technology Raceway within the stretch, Friesen was unable to race his way back into the Playoffs. He proceeded to compete in six of the final seven scheduled events, notching three additional top-10 results and another season-best fourth-place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September.
Friesen settled in 15th place in the final standings. During the season, he logged in only three top-fives, 12 top-10s, and led 31 laps. His average finishing result was 15.7.
Friesen rallied in 2021. He made his third career appearance in the Truck Series Playoffs and he did so amid a roller-coaster regular-season stretch. Friesen only notched three top-five results and a total of four top-10 results. He transferred from the Round of 10 to 8 on the strength of three consecutive top-four results.
Then, he logged in respective finishes of sixth, 22nd and 17th throughout the Round of 8. He then found himself in a “must-win” situation at Martinsville Speedway. Unfortunately, Friesen spun on the final lap while contending for the victory. As a result, his title hopes evaporated. With a season-best runner-up result at Phoenix, he claimed sixth place in the final standings. By then, he had surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series division.
During the 2022 Truck Series season, Friesen finished no worse than 16th. He also tallied a total of three top-10 results through the first eight scheduled events. Then at Texas in May, he outdueled Christian Eckes. During an overtime shootout, he executed a bold pass beneath Eckes through the first two turns. By doing so, he snapped a 54-race winless drought and notched his third career victory in the Truck Series division.
With a guaranteed spot in the Playoffs all but locked up with the Texas victory, Friesen finished in the top 10 five times through the final seven events. He maintained his title hopes and transferred to the Round of 8 despite a single top-five result during the Round of 8.
Despite finishing seventh, 20th and third, respectively, throughout the Round of 8, Friesen fell short of transferring to the Championship Round by a single point. Nonetheless, he finished fifth during the finale at Phoenix and sixth in the final standings for a second consecutive year. By then, he had accumulated two additional top-five results and four extra top-10 results. Friesen also led 110 extra laps, boosting his average-finishing result from 14.5 to 9.9.
During the previous two Truck seasons (2023-24), Friesen finished in the top five a total of six times. And, he generated 14 results in the top-10 mark. He also led a combined 16 laps, recorded average-finishing results within the top-15 and 17 mark and settled in 12th place in the final standings while missing the Playoffs. During the two-year stretch, he finished as high as second at Darlington Raceway in May 2023 and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May 2024.
This season, Friesen began the 2025 campaign by notching four top-10 results through 12 scheduled events. Mired within the results was a runner-up result at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February after he was edged by Kyle Busch by 0.017 seconds for the victory. Then at Michigan International Speedway, Friesen capitalized on three overtime restarts to snap a three-year winless drought. He notched a thrilling victory that guaranteed him a Playoff berth for the fifth time in his career.
Through 199 previous Truck starts, Friesen has achieved four victories, four poles, 51 top-five results, 91 top-10 results, 766 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.8. He is currently in 11th place in the 2025 driver’s standings as he continues his pursuit of his first NASCAR championship.
Stewart Friesen is scheduled to make his 200th Craftsman Truck Series career start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the TSport 200. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Friday, July 25, and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
