Stewart Friesen

Stewart J. Friesen (born July 25, 1983) is a Canadian professional dirt track and stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 52 Toyota Tundra for his own team, Halmar Friesen Racing. He also competes part-time at local dirt tracks in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, driving the No. 44 car for HFR.

Stewart Friesen
Friesen at Bridgeport Speedway in March 2018
Born	Stewart J. Friesen July 25, 1983 Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
93 races run over 4 years
Truck no., team	No. 52 (Halmar Friesen Racing)
2020 position	15th
Best finish	4th (2019)
First race	2016 Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora)
Last race	2020 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
First win	2019 Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora)
Last win	2019 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 49 3
Statistics current as of November 6, 2020.

Racing career

Early years

Friesen's modified car at Georgetown Speedway in March 2018

Friesen started racing early in life, his family owning Ransomville Speedway in western New York.[1] After racing go-karts, Friesen raced big-blocks with widespread success in the Northeast United States, advancing to the 2010 World Finals at Charlotte Motor Speedway.[2] He was the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Modified track champion at Fonda Speedway.[3]

He was one of the top competitors in the SuperDIRT Series in the mid-2010s, and he also has triumphed in the World of Outlaws sprint car series, winning over 230 career races as of the end of the 2017 season.[4] He has won the Syracuse 200 Modified race four times.[5] Friesen has run over 900 dirt races in his career.[6] Eventually, he met Chris Larsen, who gave Friesen his first NASCAR ride at Eldora Speedway, which was supposed to be a one-time deal. However, the partnership blossomed into a full-time ride.[7]

On occasion, Friesen runs NASCAR and dirt on the same day.[8] He maintains an active presence on New York dirt tracks such as Fonda, Ransomville, Five Mile Point and Utica-Rome.[9]

NASCAR Truck Series

Breaking into NASCAR with the 2016 Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby, Friesen put his No. 16 Halmar Racing truck into the twelfth starting spot on the grid by virtue of a second-place finish in his heat. However, contact with Caleb Holman ruined his night,[10] and Friesen's debut race resulted in a 28th-place finish. Running five more races in the season, Friesen recorded three top 20 finishes, the best being a 13th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.[11]

On January 9, 2017, Friesen announced that he would run the full 2017 season in the Halmar Friesen Racing (HFR) No. 52 truck with Tommy Baldwin Jr. coming on as a team manager.[12][13] In June, following the first seven races of the season, HFR announced it would undergo a two-week hiatus before returning at Kentucky Speedway in July.[14] At Eldora, Friesen qualified on the pole position and remained in the place for the start of the feature after winning his heat race.[15] He led more than half the laps and claimed the victory in the second stage but lost the lead to Matt Crafton in the closing laps, finishing a career-best second.[16] About a month after Eldora run, the team took another two-race break while severing its relationship with Baldwin and making a new technical alliance with GMS Racing.[17] After returning to competition, Friesen scored four finishes of seventh or better in the season's last six races, climbing to fourteenth in the season-ending points tally.[18]

Friesen's 2019 truck at Homestead

For 2018, HFR continued the alliance with GMS, so much so that GMS driver Johnny Sauter referenced Friesen as a teammate. After advancing to the playoffs and a best finish of second on three occasions throughout the year, he finished seventh in the final points standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.

Friesen remained at HFR in an alliance with GMS for the third straight year in 2019. He was also contacted by JR Motorsports to run a partial schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but nothing came of it.[19] At Kansas Speedway, Friesen led both practices, won both Stage One and Stage Two and led the most laps, but ran out of fuel with three laps to go due to a pit communication on the previous pit stop, in which the fuelman did not put enough fuel in the truck, handing the win to Ross Chastain and relegating Friesen to 15th, furthering a streak of near-misses for Friesen.[20] On August 1, 2019, Friesen won his first career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Eldora.[21] On November 8, Friesen achieved his second career victory and his first on an oval track by winning at Phoenix after passing Brandon Jones with four laps remaining.[22] As a result, Friesen qualified for the Championship 4 for the first time but ultimately finished 11th at Homestead and fourth in the final standings.

After missing the playoffs in 2020, Friesen later abandoned a full-time Truck schedule and skipped a race at Kansas Speedway in order to run the Short Track Super Series at Port Royal Speedway.[23] On the night of the Kansas truck event, Friesen finished second to Mat Williamson in a $53,000-to-win race at Port Royal.[24]

Personal life

Friesen grew up in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and played hockey as a child. He attended the University of Windsor, attaining a degree in science.[25]

Friesen is married to Jessica Zemken.[26] The two have one son.[1] Friesen and Zemken also run a t-shirt printing business, which was originally a fallback plan in case racing did not work out.[25] Friesen lives in Sprakers, New York.[27]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led; small number below track name denotes finishing position.)

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	NGTC	Pts	Ref
2016	Halmar Racing	16	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR	KAN	DOV	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	KEN	ELD 28	POC	BRI 22	MCH	MSP	CHI	NHA 13	LVS 19	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO 18	HOM 29	33rd	69	[11]
2017	Halmar Friesen Racing	52		DAY 31	ATL 19	MAR 25	KAN 32	CLT 23	DOV 28	TEX 22	GTW	IOW	KEN 12	ELD 2*	POC 12	MCH 13	BRI 29	MSP	CHI	NHA 5	LVS 23	TAL 17	MAR 6	TEX 14	PHO 6	HOM 7	14th	422	[18]
2018				DAY 27	ATL 6	LVS 5	MAR 20	DOV 23	KAN 3	CLT 6	TEX 2	IOW 9	GTW 13	CHI 19	KEN 2	ELD 3	POC 4	MCH 8	BRI 2	MSP 7	LVS 17	TAL 6	MAR 11	TEX 8	PHO 5	HOM 4	7th	2265	[28]
2019				DAY 10	ATL 18	LVS 4	MAR 5	TEX 2	DOV 12	KAN 15*	CLT 3	TEX 20	IOW 5	GTW 3	CHI 3	KEN 2	POC 32	ELD 1	MCH 8	BRI 4	MSP 7	LVS 19	TAL 5	MAR 6	PHO 1	HOM 11	4th	4026	[29]
2020			Toyota	DAY 21	LVS 9	CLT 30	ATL 10	HOM 14	POC 8	KEN 15	TEX 4	KAN 27	KAN 34	MCH 39	DAY 10	DOV 9	GTW 5	DAR 8	RCH 10	BRI 32	LVS 4	TAL 17	KAN	TEX 28	MAR 6	PHO 6	15th	504	[30]
2021				DAY	DAY	LVS	ATL	BRI	RCH	KAN	DAR	COA	CLT	TEX	NSH	POC	KNX	GLN	GTW	MSP	BRI	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

1. Eggert, Seth. "Climbing the Ladder: Stewart Friesen". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
2. "Stewart Friesen Brings Red-Hot Big-Block Modified Act to World Finals Nov. 4-6". www.charlottemotorspeedway.com (Press release). November 1, 2010. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
3. "Fonda Speedway Track Champions" (pdf). Fonda Speedway. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
4. "Stewart Friesen". SuperDIRT Car Series. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
5. Batz, Mike (October 14, 2015). "Local Auto Racing: Stewart Friesen wins finale at historic Moody Mile in Syracuse". Lebanon Daily News. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
6. "NE Modified Facts & Stats – Stewart Friesen – Driver Profile". nemodfacts.racestatcentral.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
7. Johns, Clayton (January 11, 2017). "Friesen's Big-Block Modified Roots Helped Create NASCAR Ride". DIRTcar Racing. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
8. O'Brien, Dick (September 25, 2016). "Stewart Friesen does double duty in NASCAR trucks, Super DIRTcar Series". syracuse.com. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
9. "Stewart Friesen – ARRA – Documenting Racing History". sites.google.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
10. "Trucks: Friesen and Holman Start Big Wreck – Eldora 2016 | FOX Sports". FOX Sports. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
11. "Stewart Friesen – 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
12. Eggert, Seth. "Stewart Friesen To Campaign Full NASCAR Camping World Truck Season in 2017". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
13. "Halmar Friesen Racing debuts in Camping World Truck Series". NASCAR.com (Press release). NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 9, 2017. Archived from the original on January 11, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
14. "Halmar Friesen Racing taking two-week hiatus from Truck competition". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
15. Utter, Jim (July 19, 2017). "Canadian Stewart Friesen to start from pole for Eldora Dirt Derby". Motorsport. Motorsport.com. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
16. Southers, Tim (July 20, 2017). ""Second sucks": Stewart Friesen reflects on solid Eldora Speedway run". Motorsport.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
17. Bonkowski, Jerry (August 23, 2017). "Halmar Friesen Racing Truck team splits with Tommy Baldwin Jr., forms alliance with GMS Racing". NASCAR Talk. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
18. "Stewart Friesen – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
19. "264 – Gary Balough: Racing, Fighting & Smuggling". Player.fm. Dirty Mo Media. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
20. Hauff, Brandon (May 10, 2019). "Ross Chastain Scores First Career NASCAR Truck Series Win at Kansas, Heartbreak For Stewart Friesen". Frontstretch. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
21. Cain, Holly (August 1, 2019). "Stewart Friesen scores first Gander Trucks victory, wins at Eldora". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
22. Fair, Asher. "NASCAR Truck Series: Stewart Friesen wins 2019 Lucas Oil 150". Fansided. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
23. Tomlinson, Joy (October 4, 2020). "Stewart Friesen Not Racing Truck Series at Kansas Speedway". Frontstretch. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
24. O'Brien, Dick (October 18, 2020). "Mat Williamson passes Stewart Friesen for $53K win at Port Royal". Syracuse.com. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
25. Crandall, Kelly. "Episode 45: Stewart Friesen". Omny.fm. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
26. Yasinsac, Robin (June 24, 2015). "Local auto racing: Stewart Friesen, Jessica Zemken make a great team". Times Union. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
27. Wang, Jackson (May 13, 2020). "NASCAR's Halmar Friesen Racing Donates Food to Montgomery County". Spectrum News. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
28. "Stewart Friesen – 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
29. "Stewart Friesen – 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
30. "Stewart Friesen – 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 6, 2020.

External links

• Stewart Friesen driver statistics at Racing-Reference