The 4th Turn: June 2, 2025
~ By Tom Boggie
Thank you, Stewart Friesen.
If it hadn’t been for Friesen’s improbable victory in last Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Michigan, I probably would have thrown in the towel on this week’s The 4th Turn. You can only rehash rainouts for so long.
But thanks to Friesen, I have some more ammunition.
After watching Friesen qualify 17th at Michigan last Saturday morning, and because it was Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga Race Course (I’m still trying to figure out if mobile betting is a curse or a blessing), I spent a lot of Saturday flipping from the truck race to horse racing.
One of the last flips came just before the caution came out at Michigan with five laps left in regulation. Friesen was still deep in the pack and came out of the pits 20th.
I figured that I might as well stick it out and was stunned when the leaders wrecked on the restart, taking out the first five rows and moving Friesen into the top 10.
Two more incidents, two more restarts and suddenly, Friesen was fourth. For some inexplicable reason, the three cars in front of Friesen all chose the top lane, giving Friesen the inside of the front row.
After the field took the green, Friesen looked like he was back on a dirt track. He ran side-by-side with Grant Enfinger down the backstretch, used some side draft to nose out on front, slid to the top to take Enfinger’s lane away and hung on for his fourth career NASCAR truck series win and first since 2022, earning a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.
I’m just glad Friesen didn’t get hurt when he stumbled after jumping off the wall following his frontstretch celebration. I can imagine that headline … FRIESEN ENDS WINLESS STREAK, BLOWS OUT ACHILLES’ TENDON.
I’ve watched Friesen race a lot over the years, and have seen some memorable victories, especially at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. My favorite is the “Big Show 11” Super DIRTcar Series race in 2019, when he stole Brett Hearn’s lunch money.
Hearn’s “Big Shows” were extremely popular at Malta, and in 2019, he decided to run a 111-lap feature. That proved to be a bad decision.
Hearn had the lead on lap 100, which would have normally seen the checkered flag, but this one wasn’t over yet. Friesen, out for the first time in a new DKM chassis, kept hounding Hearn and on lap 110, rocketed around Hearn on the outside coming out of turn four to get the lead and keep Hearn from pocketing the $11,111 top prize.
“I tried to get inside Brett for a couple of laps, but it didn’t work, so I went to the top and was getting big runs off four,” Friesen said. “I was getting a good run off the top. I knew I had to get inside Brett and take away his exit out of two.”
“A 100 lapper, I was the winner,” lamented Hearn. “I didn’t think there was any way anyone was going to get around me on the top. Stewart is the most diverse driver we’ve seen in decades. I did what I had to do, but I ran myself out of a right rear tire.”
Friesen picked up another big check in 2023, when he won the Super DIRTcar Series race during Malta Massive Weekend. That race was somewhat of a bon voyage party for 13-time Malta champion Ken Tremont Jr., who was retiring at the end of the season. The race was 115 laps in distance and paid $11,500 to win, both a tribute to Tremont’s iconic number 115.
This win proved to be pretty easy, as Friesen drew the outside pole and led all 115 laps.
“I can’t thank my team enough. I stunk in this race last year,” said Friesen after the win. “First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate Ken on his awesome career. You guys have been lucky to have him for all those years. When I first started coming here, I was racing for the Madsens and it was Ken kicking my butt. But he was also the first one to offer his advice.”
Another milestone win for Friesen came on opening night in 2012, the first year that Howie Commander was leasing the track and Lyle DeVore was handling the promoting duties. That event was named “The Resurrection”, after the facility ran for two years as an asphalt track.
Friesen pulled in with the Marty Burdick-owned, Pizza Logs-sponsored 85 that night, drew the front row and held off Tremont to record his first career win at Albany-Saratoga.
“Definitely, starting up front helped us tonight,” Friesen said after the race. “This is incredible. I could hear Ken the whole time. I wanted to take his line away and I guess it worked. We were bumping and banging the whole way.”
To date, Friesen has 26 career wins at Albany-Saratoga; 23 in a modified, two in a sprint car and one in a midget. Prior to joining forces with Chris Larson and Halmar International in 2016, Friesen recorded wins for Burdick, Jake Spraker and Jeff Daley in a modified.
He sat in victory lane six times (and also had four seconds) in 2016 in the Halmar 44, and also had six wins (winning six of 13 features) during the Covid-shortened season in 2020.
He’s made 98 career modified starts at Malta, with 23 wins and 60 top-five finishes. His resume also includes six Super DIRT Week big block victories, tying him with Hearn at the top of that all-time win list.
But he also remembers the lean years. When Guy Madsen was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame as a car owner in 2022, Friesen was one of the guest speakers. “I thank Guy Madsen for giving me two good years in his car,” Friesen said. “We’d go to Malta on Friday night and we didn’t go very good there. But Patty (Madsen’s wife) loved Publik House pizza, so we kept going back.”
AROUND THE TRACKS
WHAT???? NO RAIN ON FRIDAY???? It looks like Albany-Saratoga will be back in action Friday, with the Sprint Cars of New England joining the racing card. Both the sportsman and pro stocks will be racing for $1,050 to win, and Matt DeLorenzo will be chasing his third modified win in a row.
The SCoNE drivers have been off for seven weeks, ever since Jordan Poirier won the series’ season-opening race on April 19 at Airborne Park.
Not everyone rained out last week. Airborne Park ran on Thursday, with former Albany-Saratoga sportsman champion Andrew Buff finishing second in the 358-modified feature.
Utica-Rome Speedway ran a special Wednesday night show this week to make up for a rash of rainouts and some Malta drivers used the opportunity to get some track time. Brian Calabrese finished fifth in the 358-modified feature, with Marc Johnson sixth. Bodie Marks finished 10th in the sportsman feature.
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