FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Friesen grew up in Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario, and played hockey as a child. He eventually attended the University of Windsor, attaining a degree in science Friesen got hooked on racing early in life, his family owning Ransomville Speedway in western New York. 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. 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. He has won the Syracuse 200 Modified race four times. 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. Breaking into NASCAR with the 2016 Eldora Dirt Derby, Friesen put

his #16 Halmar Racing truck into the twelfth starting spot on the grid. Friesen's maiden voyage resulted in a 28th-place finish. Running five more races in the season, Friesen recorded three top twenty finishes, the best being a 13th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. On January 2017, Friesen announced that he would run the full 2017 season in the Halmar Friesen Racing #52 with Tommy Baldwin Jr. coming on as a team manager. At Eldora, Friesen won the pole, but lost the lead to Matt Crafton in the closing laps, finishing a career-best second. About a month after Eldora run, the team severed its relationship with Baldwin and made a new technical alliance with GMS Racing. Friesen scored four finishes of seventh or better

in the season's last six races, climbing to fourteenth in the season-ending points tally. He drove for Chris Larson all of 2018 and came close to winning on several occasions; finishing second three time. He had nine Top 5 finishes and 21 Top 10's in the 23 starts. He was only able to finish seventh in the points. Larson kept Friesen on as driver for 2019 knowing good things were right around the corner. Sure enough Friesen again ran well in 2019 and scored his first win at the dirt track of Eldora. This locked him into the Chase and he rolled into it with five Top 5 finishes the seven races prior to it starting. IT kicked off at Bristol where he finished fourth and followed that up with a seventh which was enough to propel him into the second round. He again ran well enough to advance to round three. At Phoenix, the race before the Championship race

at Homestead, he won again to lock himself into the final round with a shot to win it all. He qualified on the pole and hopes were high; but Austin Hill had a truck no one could keep pace with on that night as he went on to win the race. Matt Crafton however finished second and won the Championship. Friesen encountered handling problems as the track changed when it got dark and ended up finishing 11th in the race and fourth in the Championship. For 2020 Friesen and his crew chief Tripp Bruce decided to swap from racing Chevrolets to running Toyotas. The season proved to be an unmitigated disaster. After two wins in 2019; Friesen never got close to being dominant or winning a race. His best finish of the season was fourth. After two wins and 12 Top 5s in 2019; he could only manage three Top 5s in 2020. Plans are for Stewart and Tripp to give it a go again in 2021 and see if they can find the magic again. Friesen had a

respectable season in 2021. He had seven Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10’s. He made the playoffs and had some great finishes. He just missed making the Championship race which was unfortunate. He finished second at Phoenix and that was ahead of all those who were eligible to win the Championship. Ben Rhodes finished third and won the 2021 Championship. Stewart’s wife Jessica Friesen started her first NASCAR race at Knoxville Iowa. It was the first time a husband / wife raced in a race together since Elton Sawyer and Patty Moise Sawyer in the early 1990’s. Stewart also made his first Cup Series start at Bristol dirt race. He was hired to wheel the #77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports when they hauled the dirt in and covered the track for NASCAR first dirt race in 50 years. Friesen started 32nd and quickly moved up through the field; before being involved in an accident and finishing 23rd. In 2022, Friesen started off the season with a 16th place finish at Daytona. He added three top tens the next three

races. He had finishes of 13th; 11th; 12th; and 14th the next four races. He broke through for a win in May. Friesen broke a 54-race winless streak in the Truck Series by scoring his third career victory at Texas after passing Christian Eckes for the lead in Overtime. His only DNF came at Sonoma, when he was involved in a crash with five laps to go. He ran well in the Chase and advanced through the first round. He missed making it into the final four to run for the Championship; even though he posted a seventh and a third in the round of eight. He went on to finish sixth in the points. Stewarts 2023 season wasn’t as successful as 2022 as he wasn’t able to get a win; and only posted five top 5 finishes. His best finish came at Darlington when he finished second. He just missed

having enough points to advance to the play offs after he had issues and finished 32nd and 27th the final two races of the regular season. He was again back behind the wheel of the #52 Halmar truck in 2024, but things did not go well for the team. They had a decent run at Daytona, coming home 14th. But they finished two laps down the next race at Atlanta running 23rd when the checkers flew. The next four races they could only muster finishes between a best of 18th and 22nd. Texas was a fair run as they finished 13th. They finally looked pretty good a North Wilkesboro when Stewart got his first top ten finish of the

year coming home tenth. At Charlotte, Corey Heim was the class of the field leading 72 laps; but was DQ'd post race for having three loose lug nuts. Nick Sanchez inherited the win with Friesen finishing second. It seemed the team had turned the corner as the next three races Stewart would finish eighth, eleventh and seventh. Still, with all the issues he had so far; Stewart was only four points out of the play-offs. At IRP the truck was off, and not fast. Add to that, Stewart got a penalty for speeding on pit road and he ended the night in 33rd, six laps

behind. The next race was at Richmond; the final race of the regular season; and Friesen needed to make up 16 points to make it into the play-offs. Friesen qualified 12th and it looked like he had a shot to make the play-offs. But, when the green dropped, once again the truck did not perform well. He didn't earn any stage points; and when the checkers waved, he was running 25th, two laps down. The final seven races it appears the team did find something to build on for 2025. In those races he posted three top ten finishes and added a 13th place run at Talladega. So maybe they will come out of the box strong in 2025. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

STEWART J FRIESEN - 07/25/1983