Stewart Friesen Wins DQS Solutions & Staffing 250: Highlights

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made a triumphant return to the Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Michigan after a five-year absence from the 2-mile Oval. Drivers got plenty of practice on Friday and a strong field of 32 truckers started the race Saturday at Noon. All in all, a lot of unknowns were quickly answered after over 250 miles of high-speed, bumper-to-bumper action of the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250.

Stage 1

The Green Flag dropped and Luke Fenhaus, who captured his first-career pole earlier in the day, got the jump ahead of Carson Hocevar, who was looking to win at his home track and become more familiar with the track prior to Sunday. Also up front was Rookie of the Year candidate, Connor Mosack, who was still hunting for his first-career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win. It didn’t take long for the phenom Corey Heim to make his way up front and steal another stage victory. He barely beat Hocevar and collected that valuable Playoff Point and ten Championship Points towards the Regular Season Championship.

Stage 2

Heim and Mosack led the field to green on Lap 38 to begin Stage 2, as Hocevar chose the outside lane to begin the stage. Heim once again had the advantage, as Hocevar and Ty Majeski followed close behind. Hocevar reclaimed the lead on Lap 41, but Heim got a run on Hocevar once again on Lap 50 and didn’t look back, winning Stage 2 on Lap 60. Heim collected another ten Championship Points and Playoff Point in the process, reminding the field of why this is his Championship to lose when the series arrives at Phoenix in November.

Final Stage

Before the final stage began, the field came down pit road for four fresh tires and a full tank of gas. Kaden Honeycutt was the first one out the pits, but was bombarded on a restart by Heim and Hocevar. On Lap 71, Jack Wood slammed the outside retaining wall going into Turn 4, causing a lengthy red flag delay to repair the wall. On the Lap 75 restart, Ross Chastain gave Honeycutt a push, as Heim did for Hocevar. As the restart launched, last week’s winner, Rajah Caruth, backed it up into the Turn 2 wall, ending his day.

On a restart with 43-to-go, Chastain and Honeycutt teamed up to take on Hocevar, as the blocks became more and more aggressive. A lap later, Morgen Baird and Nathan Byrd collided coming out of Turn 4, destroying their race trucks in the process. On the next restart, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger found themselves up front, as Gio Ruggiero made his way up to second. With 15-to-go, a three-way-battle for the lead broke out with Layne Riggs, Chastain and Enfinger. With less than 10 laps remaining, Hocevar’s tire blew, littering the rubber on the Backstretch, prompting a caution, once again.

On the restart with six-to-go, a pileup occurred on the Frontstretch coming to the green, as a result of Chastain getting shoved too hard at the Start/Finish Line. This lead to multiple overtime restarts, one of the notable ones seeing Corey LaJoie out front as Lawless Alan and Daniel Hemric had tires blow out, both slamming the outside retaining walls in Turn 3 and 4, prompting cautions.

The second overtime attempt saw LaJoie out front once again, as Enfinger cleared him. With one-to-go, Matt Mills collided with Jack Wood and Toni Breidinger on the Backstretch, prompting another restart. On the final restart, Enfinger and Stewart Friesen led the field to green. Friesen was able to hold off Enfinger, en-route to his first NCTS win since 2022, locking him into the Playoffs in the process.

Exiting Michigan, six out of ten Playoff spots are secured with Corey Heim being a comfortable +133 over second-place, Chandler Smith. With five races remaining until the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, there’s a possibility that the series ends the Regular Season with 11 winners, so points will be at a premium the rest of the summer.

The tough trucks are off this weekend, since the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series head across the border for a weekend in Mexico. The next race on the schedule for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway, Friday, June 20th at 5:00PM EST/2:00PM PST on FS1.