Eldora dirt win signals fresh start for Friesen
First victory follows six runner-up finishes, but son steals the show.
Stewart Friesen ROSSBURG — won the race. Parker Friesen won the hearts.
Stewart Friesen finally hit pay dirt in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Series Truck race, winning the Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway on Thursday night. The checkered flag was Friesen’s first career Trucks victory in 63 starts. His victory stage celebration — where 3-year-old son Parker stole the spotlight — capped another successful run for NASCAR at the historic half-mile, clay oval in Darke County.
NASCAR returned to the dirt for the seventh time at Eldora. The post-race interview, though, was a new one for the Dirt Derby.
As Dad discussed what he was feeling following the coveted win, Parker showed it. Parker danced on the back of the No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet. He grinned and made funny faces at the crowd. And at one point he turned his back and wiggled his butt at them.
“I don’t know where he learned that. Parker is unbelievable,” Friesen said of his son, who was diagnosed with autism soon after his first birthday. “He went from not saying a word a year ago and now he won’t shut up. You never know what he’s going to do. He’s just a riot.”
The celebration put the exclamation point on the Dirt Derby’s fan-friendly, back home atmosphere.
Prior to the race, drivers Chase Briscoe and Johnny Sauter stopped by the infield concession stand to grab a pizza burger, an Eldora classic, as if they were racing fans. A CareFlight helicopter provided the pre-race flyover as four horseback riders circled the track with flags honoring the United States, Ohio
and POWs. American Legion Post 648 from St. Henry presented the country’s colors. The self-proclaimed world famous Eldora push truck drivers delivered the command, “Gentlemen, start your engines!”
Dave Blaney, the Buckeye Bullet, even won the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block undercard feature.
And somewhere in the crowd was Jack Hewitt, the sprint car Hall of Famer and Eldora legend from Troy. On Wednesday, the story goes, some NASCAR officials were late for a pre-race meeting. They were found surround- ing Hewitt as he slung his crowd-pleasing stories just like he did the dirt back in his racing days.
As for Friesen, he rock- eted away from runner-up Sheldon Creed on the restart with two laps remaining. He rode the high line around the unforgiving concrete walls to hold on for a 0.728-sec- ond victory.
“Oh man, thank you all the race fans that stuck with us and pulled for us. Man, I thought this was the week. This is the day!” said Friesen, who prior to his victory held the unenviable career record of having the most runner-up finishes (six) without a vic- tory in the Truck Series.
One of those second-place finishes came at the Dirt Derby in 2017. He finished third in 2018.
Friesen led the final 57 laps after inheriting the lead from Briscoe. The 2018 winner captured the first two stages on Thursday. He elected to pit after the second and give up the lead. Friesen, told by his team to follow Briscoe’s lead, pulled a slide job on his crew and stayed on the track.
The gamble on gas was aided by a lengthy caution from laps 142-148. Overall there were 12 cautions con- suming 68 of the 150 laps. That Friesen has more than 275 dirt victories in modified and sprint cars helped, too.
Briscoe, another dirt ace who led the first 93 laps, dropped to 11th after the pit stop and finished seventh.
“They first couple of years where everybody was beat- ing and banging on the walls, running into each other ... that’s over,” Friesen said of the asphalt veterans closing the gap on dirt drivers. “Now we’re ripping the cushion like a dirt car. It’s awesome.”
Grant Enfinger, Mike Marlar and Todd Gilliland finished in the top five. Christian Eckes, Briscoe, Tyler Dippel, Tyler Ankrum and Matt Crafton rounded out the top 10. Friesen became the seventh Dirt Derby winner in as many races. He also became the sixth winner in the Truck Series this season and locked himself into the eight-driver playoff with one race remaining in the regular season.
“I’m more excited about the win. Right now it’s all about the win,” Friesen said. “You’re only as good as your last race. We’re locked into the playoffs and that’s great, but you’re only as good as your last race.”
Ross Chastain, who entered with a Truck Serieshigh three victories, finished 12th in his No. 45 Chevy, which carried a tribute to Hewitt. Chastain’s ride carried Hewitt’s J.W. Hunt paint scheme. Prior to the Derby, the only dirt experience Chastain had was driv- ing a tractor on the family’s watermelon farm.
If Friesen had his way then Chastain, who also competes in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series, would have more chances to play in the dirt.
“Why not?” Friesen said of adding the other two NASCAR national series to the dirt mix. “I wouldn’t want to do too much of it and take the excitement from it. We’re doing ovals and road courses so why not throw one in there? Eldora is such a great track. Knoxville (Raceway in Iowa) is a great track. There are some very historical venues where NASCAR can have an awesome event.”
Parker Friesen would agree.