Heading into Texas Motor Speedway’s Longhorn 350 first in points and with a second place finish there in 2018, things looked good for Stewart Friesen in 2019. He had even captured the pole last year in Texas, and had again just the week before in Martinsville. All things considered, Texas was among Halmar-Friesen Racing’s best shots at a truck series win.
Friesen qualified in the ninth position but was relegated to the rear of the field after it became necessary to change engines in the no. 52 Halmar International Chevy Silverado. What may have seemed like a death sentence for that potential win, ended up being far from it. Though only achieving a second place finish, Friesen was able to make short work of the traffic in front of him, breaking into the top 10 within stage 1 of the race.
Friesen has extended his lead of the points standings to six points over second place after picking up an additional 49 series points at Texas. Despite the HFR team’s hunger for a win, their strategy of consistency is paying off so far, but a win would guarantee Friesen a spot in the playoffs.
Coming in just behind the first place Kyle Busch, Friesen had this to say, “It’s frustrating for sure. I thought we had Kyle (Busch) there at the end but we got loose and that was it. We didn’t have another chance to get back up to him.We continue to get better but we just need to have a flawless night in order to get that first win. Coming up through the field was tough for a little bit through the dirty air. I was lucky enough to get some restarts where the trucks would get loose underneath each other and slide up and punch a pretty big hole I could get through. It was good, we got some breaks coming up through the field and we came close at the end. Overall happy with second but still waiting to finally get to victory lane.”
With a break in the NGOTS till May, Friesen plans to get back to Dirt Racing in the Northeast, where he’s already off to a winning season. Sunday, April 7th, Friesen will hit Middletown NY’s Orange County Fair Speedway for the kick-off to their 100th season of racing. This is a track near and dear to Friesen as it is the home track to many of his Halmar Racing teammates and is a track he often performs well at. In 2018, Friesen captured a win at the Eastern States 200, Northeast Dirt Racing’s oldest Championship weekend.
HFR PR
