Friesen Snaps Winless Streak to win at Texas

It was a well-deserved and hard-fought win for Stewart Friesen, as he earned his first win in the truck series since November 2019 at the SpeedyCash.com 220 at Texas Motor Speedway. It had been 53 races since his last victory, but he led 60 laps in his No. 52 Halmar Friesen Toyota to secure his spot in the 2022 Playoffs that will take place later this season.

It all came down to a final overtime restart where Friesen had to hold off a hard-charging Christian Eckes and did so, edging Eckes’ Thorsport Toyota by 0.122 seconds. For the 38-year-old Friesen, this marks his third career truck series victory.

“I made all the mistakes I needed to make in the first two segments,” said Friesen, who had only one top-five finish going into the race. “We had an awesome truck.

“You have no idea the work that has gone into this race team over the past three years to build this up. It’s an awesome group, and we’re in the playoffs. Woo!”

Christian Eckes, who was chasing his second career win, came close to the win after he led a season-high of 40 laps.

“Just didn’t have lane position,” Eckes said in his post-race interview. “It is what it is. It’s been a rough kind of stretch here for a little bit. I’m glad to show we can actually be here and win races. We’re more hungry than ever.”

Ryan Preece, who swept both stages, finished third driving the No. 17 for David Gilliland Racing and is four-for-four on top 10 finishes in his races this season. Carson Hocevar finished in fourth, Thorsport teammate Ty Majeski was fifth, and pole-sitter John Hunter Nemechek was sixth after starting from the rear for an unapproved adjustment. Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10, while point leader Ben Rhodes finished 27th after being in an accident late in the race.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races next at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday, May 27th at 8:30 pm EST on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.