Stewart Friesen to campaign Toyota trucks in search of 2020 NGOTS title

Stewart Friesen

Fresh off his first NASCAR Playoffs Championship 4 appearance last month at the Homestead-Miami Speedway driver Stewart Friesen and his Halmar-Friesen Racing team have announced a partnership with Toyota that will set the Canadian driver up for another run at the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series title in 2020. The No. 52 trucks will be purchased through Kyle Busch Motorsports and will be housed in a shop located in Statesville, NC. according to a press release posted on StewartFriesen.net on Tuesday.

In previous seasons, HFR had campaigned Chevrolet trucks out of the GMS Racing stables.

The 36-year-old Friesen recorded his first and second career NGOTS victories this past season after taking checkered flags on the dirt in the Eldora Dirt Derby at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway then on the paved one-mile ISM Raceway in Phoenix later in the fall. Those triumphs along with 12 top-5 and 16 top-10 results carried the driver to the final round of the 2019 playoffs with a fourth in the standings being recorded when all was said and done.

Friesen also competes at a high level in Big-Block Modified racing on dirt when his truck racing schedule allows. The multi-faceted driver believes the partnership with Toyota Racing Development will position his team for even greater success in the future.

“We were all very impressed after spending time with Toyota,” Friesen declared in the press release. “TRD has been welcoming to our organization. With their support, knowledge and technology, we hope to bring our team to another level.”

Key to the move will be the fact that several crucial team members will remain in the fold. Veteran crew chief Tripp Bruce will continue in that role with the team while Gene Nead will serve as the Halmar-Friesen Racing competition director.

“Through this transition, we’ve been able to retain several members of our team from last season,” Friesen pointed out. “They’ve remained loyal to us and have new energy going into 2020.”

Stewart Friesen earned his first NGOTS win earlier this year at Eldora

Halmar-Friesen Racing team principal Chris Larsen insists that while the No. 52 operation’s efforts were noteworthy in 2019, the team is hoping for even more in the coming season.

“The championship is our goal,” Larsen said. “Making it to the ‘Final Four’ was an accomplishment, but we’re all competitive. You want to be sitting at the head table at the series banquet. We’re working to be that team.”

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association

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