Temperatures were around 104°F during the day, but Stewart Friesen broke his cold streak with a win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night (May 20), holding off Christian Eckes on the final overtime restart.
Friesen, 39, driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota, won for the first time since November 2019 in the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix Raceway, and clinched his spot in the Truck Series playoffs. He also became the seventh different driver to visit victory lane this season.
Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar and Ty Majeski rounded out the top five.
The Win That Could’ve Been
John Hunter Nemechek, who won the pole but had to start at the rear for an unapproved adjustment, finished sixth despite driving through the field twice. To top it off, a questionable decision to pit from the lead for gas effectively took the win out of his hands. Despite the miscue, Nemechek takes over the point lead for the first time this season.
Eckes had a strong performance, but the final overtime restart came down to lane choice, which he didn’t have.
“Just didn’t have lane position,” Eckes said. “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.”
Preece, who won both Stage 1 and Stage 2, scored a season-high third in the No. 17 Team DGR Ford. That’s his fourth top 10 finish in as many starts this season. It was quite the comeback for the former NASCAR Cup Series driver, who suffered damage earlier in the race, but rebounded to give his team a shot at the victory.
Race Notes
The race had 17 lead changes among seven drivers. Eckes led the most laps with 40, a season-high for the ThorSport Racing driver.
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