It’s been 53 races since Stewart Friesen and Halmar Friesen Racing last visited victory lane in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, winning the penultimate event of the 2019 season at Phoenix Raceway.
Since the second win of his career, 924 days ago, so much has changed Friesen in the third-tier series, with Halmar Frisen Racing undergoing a manufacturer swap – from Chevrolet to Toyota — ahead of 2020, and enduring the two seasons of struggles.
However, the start of the 2022 campaign showed that the No. 52 team had returned to winning form in the NASCAR Truck Series, showing immediate speed and results through the first third of the season.
Friday’s SpeedyCash.com 220 at Texas Motor Speedway was the culmination of these efforts, as the 38-year-old led a race-high 60 laps to secure the victory at the 1.5-mile facility.
It wasn’t an easy victory, as Friesen had to make a last-lap pass on Christian Eckes for the victory, reclaiming the race that was largely dominated by himself and Ryan Preece, who swept the first two stages.
Eckes was able to maintain a runner-up finish, with Preece coming home in third place in his fourth of seven scheduled races this season for David Gilliland Racing.
Carson Hocevar continued to click off an impressive string of top-five results with a fourth-place finish, his third top-five in the last four races. Ty Majeski continued an incredible start to the year with another top-five, finishing fifth.
Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates John Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim, and Chandler Smith finished sixth through eight-place, with Matt Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto each scoring finishes inside the top-10.
Two-time Truck Series champion, Todd Bodine, continued a successful return to the series, scoring his second consecutive top-15, finishing 13th in the No. 62 for Halmar Friesen Racing.
Exiting Texas, John Hunter Nemechek secured the regular-season points lead after a sixth-place result, passing Ben Rhodes – who finished 27th. Nemechek leads Rhodes by four points, with Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, and Zane Smith rounding out the top five in the standings.
Up next, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the 10th race of the 2022 season.
