NASCAR Truck Series: Stewart Friesen earns first win at 2019 Eldora Dirt Derby

Stewart Friesen broke through for the first victory of his NASCAR Truck Series career by winning the Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway.

Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen entered the penultimate race of the 16-race 2019 NASCAR Truck Series regular season, the Eldora Dirt Derby, at Eldora Speedway as the all-time leader in second place finishes without a victory with six.

He no longer holds that title.

At a track where he had previously recorded a second place finish and a third place finish, Friesen finally finished the race on top in what was the 63rd start of his Truck Series career.

In doing so, he locked up a playoff berth and became the sixth driver to do so this season. Two playoff spots remain open with one race remaining on the regular season schedule prior to the eight-driver, three-round, seven-race playoffs.

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Friesen started this 150-lap race around the four-turn, 0.5-mile (0.805-mile) Eldora Speedway dirt track oval in Rossburg, Ohio in fourth place in his #52 Chevrolet after winning his qualifying heat race. He won the feature by 0.728 seconds over GMS Racing’s Sheldon Creed in second in his #2 Chevrolet.

ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger was the highest finishing Ford driver of this race. He finished in third place in his #98 Ford. Reaume Brothers Racing’s Mike Marlar was the highest finishing Toyota driver of this race. He finished in fourth in his #33 Toyota in what was his first career Truck Series start.

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland rounded out the top five by finishing in fifth place in his #4 Toyota. Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Christian Eckes finished in sixth in his #51 Toyota ahead of race polesitter Chase Briscoe of Stewart-Haas Racing in seventh in his #27 Ford.

Young’s Motorsports’s Tyler Dippel, DGR-Crosley’s Tyler Ankrum and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #02 Chevrolet, #17 Toyota and #88 Ford, respectively.

The race featured only one change among two lead change among two drivers. Briscoe led the race’s first 93 laps, but he made the decision to pit between stage two and stage three after winning both stage one and stage two. Friesen, meanwhile, decided to stay out on the track, and it led to him leading the race’s final 57 laps.

This race was an incident-filled race that featured a total of 12 caution flag periods, which was by far an all-time race record, over the course of its 75-mile duration.

Of these 12 caution flag periods, 10 took place as a result of on-track incidents and two took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two. Of the 32 drivers who started the race, 30 finished it and 17 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Stewart Friesen
2nd – Sheldon Creed
3rd – Grant Enfinger
4th – Mike Marlar
5th – Todd Gilliland
6th – Christian Eckes
7th – Chase Briscoe
8th – Tyler Dippel
9th – Tyler Ankrum
10th – Matt Crafton
11th – Justin Shipley
12th – Ross Chastain
13th – Austin Wayne Self
14th – Ben Rhodes
15th – Mark Smith
16th – Tim Ward
17th – Darwin Peters Jr.
18th – Kyle Strickler
19th – Jennifer Jo Cobb
20th – Jeffrey Abbey
21st – Johnny Sauter
22nd – Norm Benning
23rd – Mason Massey IV
24th – Landon Huffman
25th – Carson Hocevar
26th – Jake Griffin
27th – Colt Gilliam
28th – Gus Dean
29th – Brett Moffitt
30th – Devin Dodson
31st – Harrison Burton
32nd – Austin Hill

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The next race on the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series schedule is the 16th and final race of the regular season, and it is scheduled to take place next Saturday, August 10. This race, the Corrigan Oil 200, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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