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Nick DeGroot

Friesen snaps winless streak with Texas Truck win

Friesen was strong all night, leading a race-high 60 laps. At the finish, he was just 0.122s clear of Christian Eckes.

"I made all the mistakes I needed to make in the first two segments,” said Friesen after the race. “I had an awesome truck. Finally, we have something to celebrate," he said. "Thanks, you guys. Thanks everyone at Toyota and TRD. You have no idea the work that has gone into this race team over the past three years to build this up. It's an awesome group. We're in the playoffs - how about that?

"The No. 17 lined up with me (on the last restart) and I was like, 'Alright, I got (Ryan) Preece - I got a real racer in my back pocket.' He shoved the heck out of me. I'm terrible on restarts. I didn't spin the tires. It was fine through (Turns) 1 and 2 and it stuck."

Eckes, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar, and Ty Majeski rounded out the top-five. John-Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto completed the top-ten.

Stage 1

Pole-sitter Nemechek was forced to start from the rear of the field after the team made an unapproved adjustment before the race.

At the start, Friesen prevailed after a brief battle with Heim while Z. Smith shot up the track at the end of the opening lap, saving the truck just before reaching the wall.

The first caution of the race was for a spin by Chris Hacker.

Preece, who is running part-time this season, made his presence known at the front as he took the race lead.

He held off a late charge to win the stage, followed by Friesen, ZSmith, Eckes, CSmith, Nemechek, Majeski, Rhodes, Kraus and Heim.

Stage 2

Friesen wasn’t able to pass Preece on the track, but his crew got the job done on pit road. 

During that round of stops, C. Smith needed to return to the pits to tighten lug nuts while Z. Smith was penalized for equipment interference. 

The stage was fairly uneventful after that as Friesen dominated. However, slower traffic presented an opportunity and Preece was able to retake the race lead.

He won yet another stage, again followed by Friesen. Nemechek, Rhodes, Eckes, Kraus, Heim, Majeski, Chastain, and Ankrum rounded out the remainder of the top-ten.

Stage 3

Nemechek jumped ahead on pit road while chaos erupted behind him. Rhodes was sent to the rear for an uncontrolled tire and Heim was sent spinning after contact leaving his pit stall.

Nemechek held the lead until a caution involving Majeski and Kraus. Surprisingly, Nemechek chose to pit and restarted deep in the field.

His decision left Friesen and Eckes to battle it out for the race win. Friesen was able to complete the pass for the lead with 49 laps to go.

However, more restarts will still to come as Kris Wright got into the wall. The field filed down pit road for what should have been the final stop for most. Some trucks opted to take no tires/two tires and one truck – Chase Purdy, even stayed out.

The Niece trucks briefly controlled the race before Eckes took the lead.

With 20 laps to go, Ankrum spun after contact with Enfinger. No one up front pitted. The fight for the lead was fierce as Friesen and Eckes continued to battle.

Their battle had to pause for the seventh caution of the race when Rhodes crashed on the backstretch. This set up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag.

Friesen, with a push from Preece, got an excellent restart and slid up in front of Eckes. Friesen would cross the finish line just ahead of Eckes, capturing the checkered flag in a much-needed victory for the No. 52 team.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led Retirement Points Bonus
1 52 United States Stewart Friesen Toyota 149 1:55'01.952     60   58  
2 98 United States Christian Eckes Toyota 149 1:55'02.074 0.122 0.122 40   48  
3 17 United States Ryan Preece Ford 149 1:55'02.252 0.300 0.178 27   54  
4 42 Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 149 1:55'02.493 0.541 0.241 4   33  
5 66 United States Ty Majeski Toyota 149 1:55'02.713 0.761 0.220     39  
6 4 United States John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 149 1:55'02.890 0.938 0.177 14   44  
7 51 Corey Heim Toyota 149 1:55'03.451 1.499 0.561 1   35  
8 18 Chandler Smith Toyota 149 1:55'03.496 1.544 0.045     35  
9 88 United States Matt Crafton Toyota 149 1:55'03.752 1.800 0.256     28  
10 25 United States Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 149 1:55'03.818 1.866 0.066     27  
11 23 United States Grant Enfinger Chevrolet 149 1:55'03.847 1.895 0.029     26  
12 41 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 149 1:55'04.010 2.058 0.163        
13 62 United States Todd Bodine Toyota 149 1:55'05.234 3.282 1.224     24  
14 3 United States Jordan Anderson Chevrolet 149 1:55'05.346 3.394 0.112     23  
15 32 Bret Holmes Chevrolet 149 1:55'05.415 3.463 0.069     22  
16 24 Jack Wood Chevrolet 149 1:55'05.725 3.773 0.310     21  
17 1 United States Hailie Deegan Ford 149 1:55'05.757 3.805 0.032     20  
18 22 United States Austin Wayne Self Chevrolet 149 1:55'05.858 3.906 0.101     19  
19 02 United States Jesse Little Chevrolet 149 1:55'05.879 3.927 0.021     18  
20 56 United States Timmy Hill Toyota 149 1:55'05.931 3.979 0.052     17  
21 61 United States Chase Purdy Toyota 149 1:55'05.935 3.983 0.004 3   16  
22 30 Tate Fogleman Toyota 149 1:55'06.097 4.145 0.162     15  
23 46 United States Brennan Poole Ford 149 1:55'06.118 4.166 0.021        
24 15 United States Tanner Gray Ford 149 1:55'06.384 4.432 0.266     13  
25 5 Tyler Hill Toyota 149 1:55'07.084 5.132 0.700     12  
26 9 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 149 1:55'10.940 8.988 3.856     11  
27 99 United States Ben Rhodes Toyota 148 1:55'09.628 1 Lap 1 Lap     20  
28 12 United States Spencer Boyd Chevrolet 147 1:55'17.627 2 Laps 1 Lap     9  
29 40 Dean Thompson Chevrolet 146 1:55'11.988 3 Laps 1 Lap     8  
30 45 Alan Lawless Chevrolet 145 1:55'09.923 4 Laps 1 Lap     7  
31 33 Chris Hacker Toyota 143 1:55'12.916 6 Laps 2 Laps     6  
32 38 Zane Smith Ford 143 1:55'19.057 6 Laps 6.141     13  
33 16 United States Tyler Ankrum Toyota 139 1:48'20.255 10 Laps 4 Laps   Overheating 5  
34 91 Colby Howard Chevrolet 139 1:55'19.798 10 Laps 6'59.543     3  
35 44 United States Kris Wright Chevrolet 106 1:20'58.163 43 Laps 33 Laps   Accident 2  
36 19 United States Derek Kraus Chevrolet 88 1:09'39.628 61 Laps 18 Laps   Accident 8
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