Superspeedway racing has rarely been kind to Stewart Friesen throughout his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.
In 20 career starts on drafting tracks before Saturday’s Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Friesen had only finished inside the top-10 four times, and inside the top-five once.
With that sole top-five finish coming five-plus years ago in 2019, and another disappointing result to begin the season at Daytona International Speedway, the prospects weren’t looking the greatest for Friesen.
This time, though, things were different. Friesen qualified eighth for Atlanta in his No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra, his first top ten start at a drafting track since Atlanta in 2022, which was also the site of his most recent drafting track top ten. With a strong truck and a strong start, the momentum started to shift for Friesen.
Friesen scored points in both stages, ran up at the front all race, and came home in second after narrowly being beaten to the line by Kyle Busch in a photo finish.
“Just so proud of my race team – our whole Halmar team”, Friesen said after the race. “Chris Larsen, everything he gives us to get the job done. We had a shot. This is my favorite truck, and we will keep digging with it”.
Despite being that close to the race win, Friesen is still proud of his result and his team’s performance to help him accomplish it.
“Just proud of our race team. It has been a grind these last couple of years, and we’ve got stuff going in the right direction. Jimmy [Villeneuve] did a good job calling the race. Chris Lambert is the best spotter in the business. I’m lucky to have him on my side”.
After a crash in this race last year left the No. 52 team essentially playing catch up most of the season, departing Atlanta with a strong points day and a clean race truck has Friesen enjoying a more positive outlook for the remainder of this season.
“Yeah, we left here last year with a torn-up piece, and played catch-up all year, so it feels good to have momentum leaving here”.
Friesen will look to repeat his strong performance on March 14, when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season. The race will be broadcast by FS1, SiriusXM Radio, and the NASCAR Racing Network.
