Stewart Friesen’s victory in the SpeedyCash.com 220 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night was a hard-fought, much-appreciated victory which became the Canadian driver’s first since November 2019.
His 60 laps in front of the pack in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota more than quadrupled his total laps led for the year, enough to claim his first win in 53 races and a spot in the 2022 Playoffs.
For the fourth overtime re-start, Friesen, 38, lined up beside Toyota driver Christian Eckes, and after a close side-by-side duel through the first two corners, Friesen pulled his Toyota Tundra ahead to clear Eckes leaving the backstretch. On the famed 1.5-mile Texas high banks, he was able to keep the lead and win by 0.122s.
Ryan Preece, who won both Stages 1 and 2, finished third in the No. 17 Team DGR Ford after suffering damage earlier in the race and having to pit for repairs. Preece now has four top-10 finishes in as many Truck outings this season, with the third-place finish being his best of the season.
In a race involving 34 green flag passes for the lead and 18 lead changes among seven drivers, Carson Hocevar of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet finished fourth, with ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski closing out the top-five.
John Hunter Nemechek, who won pole but had to start from the back due to a penalty for an illegal tweak, finished sixth after driving up the field twice.
Despite failing to match his qualifying performance with a win on Friday night, his sixth-place finish was enough to put him in first place in the Camping World Truck Series driver standings for the first time this season.
So far, Nemechek has led the Truck Series standings in four different ways.
Ben Rhodes, who had led the standings for a four-race span, finished 27th after his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota was involved in a collision that brought out the last caution period and forced overtime.
Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto, a former NASCAR Cup Series driver, rounded out the top-10. It was DiBenedetto’s second top-10 finish in a row and his fourth of the season.
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The current race winner is Nemechek.
