HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Stewart Friesen stood under the sun at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 22, sunglasses covering his facial expression.
But there was no need to guess his emotion. It was frustration.
For the second consecutive year, the Canadian NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver failed to make the playoffs. Even worse, he missed the championship finale berth to Ben Rhodes by the smallest of margins to – one point.
It had been a tame race for the truckers on Saturday afternoon in southern Florida. So tame in fact that you probably couldn’t tell there were seven drivers all fighting for each position as if their championship hopes depended on it.
The drama began with John Hunter Nemechek, who was a popular favorite for the title by many heading into the playoffs, as he slapped the wall early in stage one.
Nemechek was forced to pit and fell three laps down to the rest of the field, the damage done leaving his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra incapable of keeping up with the pace of the field. He would not be able to recover and ended his day with lost championship hopes in what has been a dominant year. Again.
“I ultimately pounded the fence,” said a dejected Nemechek. “I tried to make back probably too much in too close of a time period and hit the fence again. I don’t know. I have to figure out how to be better.
“I should be in the final four, but this round hasn’t been very good to us … Just tried to fight and fought a little too hard.”
John Hunter Nemechek gutted after not making the Championship 4 for the second consecutive year. He described his emotions:
“Frustration … Tried to fight. Fought maybe a little too hard.”#NASCAR @Frontstretch pic.twitter.com/LpP7gFr9mi
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneLT) October 22, 2022
Then there was Grant Enfinger. While in a must-win situation heading into the penultimate race of the Truck Series season, the driver of the No. 23 GMS Racing still had a hat in the ring for most of the race, quietly hovering around in the top 10 in striking distance of the lead in case of a late race caution.
But he too became a casualty of the dreaded flat tire. In the final stage, Enfinger was forced to pit off sequence and limped to pit road to service the deflated Goodyear. That was the bad news.
However, Enfinger just pitted under the fuel window to make it to the end. Alas, while still pitting earlier than…
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