Stewart Friesen

Stewart Friesen
Friesen at Bridgeport Speedway in March 2018
Born (1983-07-25) July 25, 1983
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
44 races run over 3 years
Truck no., team No. 52 (Halmar Friesen Racing)
2017 position 14th
Best finish 14th (2017)
First race 2016 Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora)
Last race 2018 Fr8Auctions 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 18 2
Statistics current as of October 13, 2018.

Stewart Friesen (born July 25, 1983) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 52 Chevrolet Silverado for Halmar Friesen Racing. He also competes part-time at local dirt tracks in New York and New Jersey, driving the No. 44 for HFR.[1]

Racing career

Early years

Friesen's modified car at Georgetown Speedway in March 2018

Friesen got hooked on racing early in life, his family owning Ransomville Speedway in western New York.[2] 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.[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.[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]

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

Camping World 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 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.[11]

On January 9, 2017, Friesen announced that he would run the full 2017 season in the Halmar Friesen Racing No. 52 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-race hiatus before returning at Kentucky in July.[14] At Eldora, Friesen won the pole and stayed in the position for the start of the feature after winning his heat race.[15] He led over 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]

For 2018, HFR continued the alliance with GMS, so much so that GMS driver Johnny Sauter referenced Friesen as a teammate.

Personal life

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.[19]

Friesen is married to Jessica Zemken,[20] who had previously raced for[21] and dated driver Tony Stewart.[22] The two have one son.[2] Friesen and Zemken also run a t-shirt printing business, which was originally a fallback plan in case racing didn't work out.[19]

In 2014, Friesen did an interview with ESPN in which he said that Stewart used his car as a "weapon" when Stewart killed Kevin Ward Jr. in a dirt-track accident.[23]

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.)

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 NCWTC Pts
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
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
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 TEX PHO HOM -* -*

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. ↑ "Stewart Friesen Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  2. 1 2 "Climbing the Ladder: Stewart Friesen". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  3. ↑ "Stewart Friesen Brings Red-Hot Big-Block Modified Act to World Finals Nov. 4-6". www.charlottemotorspeedway.com. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  4. ↑ Gorniewicz, Colby. "Stewart Friesen". Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  5. ↑ John Douglas Racing Video (2016-07-23), Stewart Friesen spotlight on FS1 from Eldora, retrieved 2017-12-30
  6. ↑ "NE Modified Facts & Stats - Stewart Friesen - Driver Profile". nemodfacts.racestatcentral.com. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  7. ↑ "Friesen's Big-Block Modified Roots Helped Create NASCAR Ride". DIRTcar Racing. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  8. ↑ "Stewart Friesen does double duty in NASCAR trucks, Super DIRTcar Series". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  9. ↑ "Stewart Friesen - ARRA - Documenting Racing History". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  10. ↑ "TRUCKS: Friesen and Holman Start Big Wreck - Eldora 2016 | FOX Sports". FOX Sports. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  11. ↑ "Stewart Friesen 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  12. ↑ "Stewart Friesen To Campaign Full NASCAR Camping World Truck Season in 2017". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  13. ↑ "Halmar Friesen Racing debuts in Camping World Truck Series". Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  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.com. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  16. ↑ ""Second sucks": Stewart Friesen reflects on solid Eldora Speedway run". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  17. ↑ "Halmar Friesen Racing Truck team splits with Tommy Baldwin Jr., forms alliance with GMS Racing". NASCAR Talk. 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  18. ↑ "Driver Stewart Friesen 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  19. 1 2 Crandall, Kelly. "Episode 45: Stewart Friesen". Omny.fm. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  20. ↑ "Local auto racing: Stewart Friesen, Jessica Zemken make a great team". Times Union. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  21. ↑ "Ward Family Responds to Tony Stewart". Racing News. 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  22. ↑ "Tony Stewart's girlfriend Jessica Zemken - PlayerWives.com". PlayerWives.com. 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  23. ↑ "'Only Tony knows' is refrain in Stewart's hometown". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.