Stewart Friesen Survives for Michigan Win; Breaks 72-Race Winless Streak

Stewart Friesen celebrating in Victory Lane after breaking his 72-race winless streak at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo: Aspen Marcheschi | The Podium Finish)

BROOKLYN, Mich. — After a clean start to the DQS Solutions and Staffing 200 Powered by Precision at Michigan International Speedway, survival of the fittest became the name of the race in the second half, where the fittest was Stewart Friesen.

On Lap 121, a pileup on a restart took out numerous front runners, including Corey Heim, who swept the stages. This opened an opportunity for a surprise winner as the race headed into overtime.

After a caution in the first overtime attempt, after both Lawless Alan and Daniel Hemric hit the wall hard in separate incidents, the race went to a second overtime. The top three on the leaderboard all chose the top lane, allowing Friesen to move up from fourth place to the front row for the restart.

Stewart Friesen after winning the DQS Solutions and Staffing 200 Powered by Precision at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo: Aspen Marcheschi | The Podium Finish)

On said restart, Friesen took advantage of an opportunity that has not come along in a while, getting around the race leader Grant Enfinger, and holding him off to score the victory.

“I don’t even know what to say,” said Friesen. “Thank you to Chris Halmar, Mohawk Northeast, TRD, all these badass race fans. I know there are a lot of Canadians, there are a lot of Americans. Everybody’s having a good time together and that’s what it’s all about, baby!”

The win broke a 72-race winless streak for Friesen, dating back to his victory at Texas Motor Speedway in 2022. Friesen also entered the race 12th in the provisional playoff standings, but with the win, is now locked in to compete for his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.

Grant Enfinger during the DQS Solutions and Staffing Powered by Precision at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo: Aspen Marcheschi | The Podium Finish)

Enfinger scored a second-place finish, which is the fifth straight top 10 for the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports team. Although Enfinger was disappointed with the result, he was still proud of his team’s execution to find themselves in a winning position at the end.

“I needed a little push from my buddy Corey (LaJoie) there on the back straightaway,” Enfinger said on the ending of the race. “Maybe I could’ve side-drafted harder to Stewart (Friesen) going into (Turn) three so he wouldn’t clear me. I feel like all in all, we executed to the best of our ability, and it just wasn’t meant to be. A little bittersweet, but overall great execution by our guys.”

Luke Fenhaus finished a career best in third place, Ben Rhodes finished fourth and Corey LaJoie scored a fifth place to round out the top five. LaJoie announced earlier in the week that he would be returning to Spire Motorsports to drive nine races in the No. 07 truck in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Corey LaJoie en route to a fifth-place finish in his return to Spire Motorsports at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo: Aspen Marcheschi | The Podium Finish)

Matt Crafton, Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Andrés Pérez de Lara and Layne Riggs rounded out the top 10.

As the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Mexico City next weekend, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will have an off week and return on Friday, June 20, at Pocono Raceway for the MillerTech Battery 200 at 5:00 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Connor Mosack
4. Ty Majeski
5. Kaden Honeycutt
6. Tyler Ankrum
7. Luke Fenhaus
8. Ross Chastain
9. Layne Riggs
10. Andrés Pérez de Lara

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Ty Majeski
4. Kaden Honeycutt
5. Connor Mosack
6. Ross Chastain
7. Gio Ruggiero
8. Tanner Gray
9. Chandler Smith
10. Luke Fenhaus

DQS Solutions and Staffing 200 Powered by Precision at Michigan International Speedway Results