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Stewart Friesen Wins His First-Career Truck Series Race At Eldora Speedway

by Hunter Thomas August 2, 2019 0 comments

ROSSBURG, Ohio – After coming up short on so many occasions in the past few seasons, Stewart Friesen finally captured his first-career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series on Thursday night at Eldora Speedway.

Just this season, Friesen has either been the bridesmaid or finished third in five races. Friesen started the Eldora Dirt Derby in fourth after winning his heat race. He took over the lead to kick off Stage 2 and led until the checkered flag; however, the journey wasn’t easy for the 36-year-old.

The final laps of the 150-lap race were littered with cautions, and the final yellow flag of the night set the field up for a two-lap dash to the finish. On the restart, Grant Enfinger who started alongside of Friesen didn’t get going fast enough. The hiccup opened the door for Friesen in the No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet to set sail to win the seventh annual Eldora Dirt Derby. The victory came in Friesen’s 63^rd series start. He will now compete in the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs as well.

“Thank you to all of the race fans that stuck with us, that kept pulling for us,” Friesen said in Victory Lane. “Everybody who came by the dirt modified hauler and said, ‘man, I thought this was the week’. Today, this is the day, and today, this is the week!”

Friesen continued and said, “This is meant to be. We needed to get it done on the dirt. We missed the last two years. What a special event. Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to say.”

Sheldon Creed held on for a second-place finish, while Enfinger had to settle for third. Mike Martar who made his series debut finished fourth, followed by Todd Gilliland.

Rounding out the top-10 were Christian Eckes, Chase Briscoe,Tyler Dippel, Tyler Ankrum and Matt Crafton.

There were 12 cautions for 68 laps throughout the dirt race. The largest accident occurred on lap 65, when 14 trucks piled up in Turn 1.

Briscoe and Friesen were the only two leaders of the race. Briscoe led a race high of 93 laps, while Friesen was out in front of the field for 57 laps.

Enfinger’s stout finish now has him leading Crafton in the standings by 52 points.

The final regular season race before the NASCAR Playoffs for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will be held at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 10. Live coverage of the Corrigan Oil 200 will broadcast on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 1 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images