Despite Strong Finish, Friesen Misses Chase by Just Seven Points
LOUDON, NH. (August 22, 2026) Kaden Honeycutt battled back from an early-race tire issue and fought for the win over the course of two green-white-checkered restarts to lead Team Toyota with a third-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Stewart Friesen, who was battling for the final transfer spot into the Chase, used a sharp two-tire call by crew chief Bruce Cook to gain track position on his last pit stop of the day and finished one spot behind fellow Toyota driver Honeycutt in fourth place. Despite the valiant effort, Friesen finished just seven points below the 10th-place cutline, barely missing out on battling for this year’s Truck Series championship.
In addition to Friesen, Cup Series regular and Halmar Friesen Racing teammate Christopher Bell rounded out the Toyota Tundra TRD Pros inside the top 10 with a seventh-place finish.
TRICON GARAGE teammates Honeycutt and Gio Ruggerio will represent Team Toyota in this year’s Truck Series Chase as the duo will be seeded second and fifth, respectively, when the Chase gets underway at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 17.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Race 19 of 23 – 185.15 Miles, 175 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Layne Riggs*
2nd, Chandler Smith*
3rd, KADEN HONEYCUTT
4th, STEWART FRIESEN
5th, Connor Zilisch*
7th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
12th, MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER JR.
19th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
21st, TANNER GRAY
26th, GIO RUGGIERO
29th, TIMMY HILL
33rd, GAVAN BOSCHELE
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
KADEN HONEYCUTT, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 3rd
How were you able to battle back from having a tire go down early in the race to finish second today?
“Definitely stings for sure, I thought we had a really good truck today. We never really go to see what we had when we were out front. I guess it just happened when we ran something over. I’m not really sure what I ran over, but you know it happens. When I told the team when we were a lap down, I was like man, this is a good testament to see how we would handle this if it happened in the Chase when it really mattered. Just a really good comeback today. Can’t thank Safelite, TRICON Garage No. 11 crew. We gained good adjustments when we needed to. Just the last restart, I think if I could have got to Layne’s (Riggs) left rear and not been top of (turn) three on that last restart, I think I probably could have got there. But ultimately, that maximized our day for sure. Thanks to everybody that made today possible. Sucks we didn’t get the win, but we’ll fight to live another day and bring it around in the playoffs.”
STEWART FRIESEN, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar-Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How difficult was it to try and fight for that last Chase spot on two tires over the last run?
“It was what it was. Proud of the Halmar team. We just didn’t bring enough speed all year. We battled today, Bruce (Cook, Crew Chief) made a good call to get two tires and up in the front we got the balance pretty close and found a lane I could work with. It’s a bummer, I think we’re definitely at top 10 team, we just had some misfortune at Richmond last week and some other times throughout the season. It is what it is, we’ll just go back to work and keep building this team up and get better and better, I promise you that. Proud of that fight and all our guys at HFR (Halmar Friesen Racing. Thanks to my wife Jess for always fighting along with me, Chris Larsen, everyone at Toyota. We’ll go back to work and finish the year as strong as we can and bring better stuff for next year.”
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.
