Throughout a frustrating opening 12 races of the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Stewart Friesen questioned why he continues to compete in the series. In Saturday’s DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway, Friesen was reminded why he has remained persistent as he collected his fourth career win in a triple-overtime finish.
“I don’t even know what to say,” an out-of-breath Friesen said after climbing the fence in celebration. “Thanks to Chris, Halmar, Mohawk Northeast, TRD, and all of our great sponsors. All of these badass race fans. I know there’s a lot of Canadians, there’s a lot of Americans. Everybody is having a good time together, and that’s what it’s all about, baby! Yeah!”
RESULTS: DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan
Friesen, who got around Grant Enfinger for the race lead on the final restart of the race, would cross the finish line ahead of Enfinger by 0.111 seconds to capture his first win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ranks since the 2022 season.
The win snapped a winless drought of 72 races for the native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.
Enfinger, the runner-up finisher, just missed out on his first victory of the season, but the driver was happy to come away tying his season’s best finish (also finished second at Las Vegas) after a couple of strategic pit road calls by his crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz in the closing laps of the race.
“We weren’t as good as we thought we were in practice, but, man, Jeff kept slinging stuff at it,” Enfinger said. “He got gutsy with both of those calls. The call to stay out, and then the call to pit late. And [spotter] Timmy [Fedewa] did a great job getting us out of the mess. You know, circumstances, I think we had a good short-run Champion Power Equipment Chevy. Just got fortunate to be put in that position.”
Luke Fenhaus, who started from the pole position for the first time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, came home with a career-best third-place finish in the chaotic race, and he was followed by Ben Rhodes and Corey LaJoie inside the top-five of the finishing results.
Matt Crafton, Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Andres Perez de Lara, and Layne Riggs rounded out the top-10 finishers in the DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan.
While Corey Heim would be credited with a disappointing 18th-place finish, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota was able to extend his point lead to 133 markers over Chandler Smith. Heim pocketed 20 Stage Points and two Playoff Points as he won Stages 1 and 2 earlier in the event.
Saturday’s race began quite calmly as Stages 1 and 2 finished without so much as a bent fender for anyone. Following the caution-free opening two Stages, the race moved into the final Stage where things got extra nutty.
The 32-truck field amassed seven caution flags in the final Stage, which brought the race total to nine with the two Stage Break cautions from earlier in the race.
Jack Wood got the crashing started on Lap 71 as he lost control of his No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado and slammed into the outside wall in Turn 4. While Wood would struggle for the remainder of the event, the driver would snag a 20th-place finish due to the massive rash of attrition down the stretch.
Stage 3 trouble for Jack Wood at @MISpeedway. pic.twitter.com/aHisYdBA6H
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 7, 2025
On the following restart, last week’s race winner Rajah Caruth was pinched down in Turn 2 by Matt Mills, which sent Caruth spinning into the outside wall on Lap 77. This caused significant damage to the rear of Caruth’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, which would end his race early.
Big damage for Rajah Caruth! pic.twitter.com/MtX7Jw443Q
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 7, 2025
A couple of laps into the next green-flag run, a hard crash involving Morgen Baird and Nathan Byrd would put the race back under caution on Lap 84, and after the massive impact into the Turn 3 wall, the race would be red flagged for nearly 20 minutes as the track safety crew repaired the damaged SAFER Barrier.
Big trouble for Morgen Baird and Nathan Byrd! pic.twitter.com/Sbw5Xt6HIz
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 7, 2025
After a wild multi-truck battle for the lead between Layne Riggs, Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar, Corey Heim, and Enfinger, the caution would come back out on Lap 116 for a tire carcass on the track from Riggs’ No. 34 Ford F-150.
Hocevar would also suffer a flat tire, and would have to pit from the race lead under the caution. Hocevar wouldn’t factor into the battle for the win the rest of the race, and would finish 11th after a late-race restart violation took him fully out of contention.
The biggest crash of the day occurred on a Lap 121 restart as a 12-truck melee ensued at the front of the field as they were taking the green flag. TRICON Garage teammates Gio Ruggiero, who was leading at the time, and Corey Heim made contact, which sent Ruggiero skidding across the track into Ross Chastain, and Tanner Gray.
Well … that didn't go as planned. ?
Big trouble on the restart! pic.twitter.com/SmOX82jLEQ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 7, 2025
After the dust settled, Corey LaJoie, making his first of nine starts this season in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, was scored as the race leader with just six laps to go.
LaJoie would maintain the lead on the first Overtime restart attempt, but the race would go back to caution after Daniel Hemric pounded the outside wall due to a cut tire with two laps to go.
Trouble for Daniel Hemric! Another overtime restart is coming up on FOX. ? pic.twitter.com/xWd2SvdtgR
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 7, 2025
Enfinger would work his way around LaJoie for the race lead on overtime restart attempt No. 2, but on the backstretch with two laps to go, another big crash erupted as Matt Mills slammed into the outside wall. Mills would careen back across the track, where he would collect Jack Wood, Toni Breidinger, and Andres Perez de Lara.
Friesen, who was fourth heading into the final restart, would get a chance to line up in the second position on the inside line, due to Enfinger, LaJoie, and Fenhaus choosing to restart in the outside lane.
This proved to be what decided the race as Friesen would side-draft past Enfinger down the backstretch to take the race lead with two laps to go in overtime attempt No. 3. This time, the caution would not come back out, and Enfinger would be unable to mount enough of a challenge to do anything with Friesen, who took his fourth career win.
As the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series are set to head to Mexico City next weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will observe an off week. Next up for the Truck Series will be the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway on Friday, June 20. That race will be televised on FS1 beginning at 5:00 PM ET.
