Freisen the Big Winner in NASCAR Truck Race at Phoenix

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AVONDALE, AZ - RIS - Stewart Friesen held off a challenge from Branson Jones to win the Lucas Oil 150 Gander Outdoors NASCAR Gander Outdoors truck race at ISM Speedway on Friday night. He also qualified to race for the truck series race next week in Homestead, Florida.  Friesen will be joined in the championship race by defending Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt, Ross Chastain and Matt Crafton.

Austin Hill, who started tonight’s Lucas Oil 150 from the pole, and Tyler Ankrum both failed to advance to Miami.

For Friesen, the win was a vindication of sorts. He was penalized by NASCAR for jumping the start at the beginning of the race, being sent to the back of the field as a result.

But the Canadian driver was a man on a mission and was not to be denied, earning his second career Truck Series win (the other win was earlier this year at Eldora).

“What a race car,” Friesen said. “We were able to pass them all clean. … It’s awesome (to be in the championship round). It’s what we’ve been geared up for all year long. We just didn’t get a lot of breaks. We lost races about every which way you could lose them and thought it was another one tonight.”

Chandler Smith finished third in Friday’s race, followed by Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, Crafton, Harrison Burton, Johnny Sauter, Chastain and Moffitt.

“We had a bad day, we’ll move on, we’ll go to Homestead where I’ll feel a hell of a lot better,” Moffitt said after the race.

Ford driver Ben Rhodes won the first stage, his third of the season, and Brandon Jones won the second stage for the fourth time.

The 2019 Truck Series season all comes down to one race next Friday: the season finale and the championship-deciding race at Miami.

Unofficial Results: 25th Annual Lucas Oil 150 - November 8, 2019, ISM Raceway - Avondale, AZ

Fin, Str, Driver, Trk, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Stewart Friesen (P), No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet, 150, 9, 4, 1, 44, , 49, Running
2) 7, Brandon Jones(i), No. 51 DuPont Air Filtration Toyota, 150, , 1, 2, 36, , 0, Running
3) 6, Chandler Smith, No. 46 iBUYPOWER/828 Logistics Toyota, 150, 2, 3, 1, 1, , 51, Running
4) 4, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Dish Fish Ford, 150, 1, , 2, 47, , 43, Running
5) 8, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 ThorSport Racing/Curb Records Ford, 150, 8, , , , , 35, Running
6) 10, Matt Crafton (P), No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Ford, 150, 3, 2, , , , 48, Running
7) 32, Harrison Burton #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 150, , 5, , , , 36, Running
8) 11, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Tenda Heal Ford, 150, 10, 10, 1, 5, , 31, Running
9) 14, Ross Chastain (P), No. 45 CarShield Chevrolet, 150, 4, , , , , 35, Running
10) 12, Brett Moffitt (P), No. 24 Plan B Sales Chevrolet, 150, 5, 9, , , , 35, Running
11) 5, Ty Majeski, No. 44  Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 3, Sheldon Creed #, No. 2 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, 150, , 8, 1, 16, , 28, Running
13) 1, Austin Hill (P), No. 16 AISIN Group Toyota, 150, 7, 6, , , , 33, Running
14) 9, Todd Gilliland, No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM Toyota, 150, 6, 7, 1, 1, , 32, Running
15) 18, Tyler Dippel #, No. 02 Lobas! Productions Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 16, Dylan Lupton, No. 5 SHREDDY Toyota, 150, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 20, Tanner Gray, No. 7 Honda Generators Toyota, 149, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 25, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 21, Sam Mayer, No. 21 Manpower Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 19, Gus Dean #, No. 12 LG Air Conditioning Technologies Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 28, Colby Howard, No. 20 Project HOPE Foundation Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 30, Natalie Decker #, No. 54 N29 Technologies LLC Toyota, 149, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 17, Carson Hocevar, No. 56 Scotts/GM Parts Now Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 13, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 15 STEELSMITH/JDRF Toyota, 148, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 29, Kyle Plott, No. 34 CAT Recovery Services Inc Toyota, 148, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 15, Tyler Ankrum # (P), No. 17 LiUNA! Toyota, 144, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 27, Danny Bohn, No. 30 Sierra Delta Toyota, 144, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 24, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Geottl Air/Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 120, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 22, John Hunter Nemechek(i), No. 8 Hostetler Ranches Chevrolet, 108, , , , , , 0, Accident
30) 31, Carson Ware, No. 33 JACOB COMPANIES Toyota, 37, , , , , , 7, Electrical
31) 23, Derek Kraus, No. 19 ENEOS/NAPA FILTERS Toyota, 28, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 26, Joe Nemechek, No. 87 Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 5, Overheating
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Time of Race: 1 Hr, 32 Min, 27 Sec
Race Length: 150 Laps, 150 Miles
Average Speed: 97.35 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.860 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 99, 46, 88, 45, 24, 4, 16, 98, 52, 13
Stage 2 Top 10: 51, 88, 46, 52, 18, 16, 4, 2, 24, 13

Race Comments: Stewart Friesen won the 25th annual Lucas Oil 150 at ISM Raceway, his second victory in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 44 (Engine change), No. 18 (Unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: (2) No. 97 Jesse Little, No. 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb.

Caution Flags: 5 for 30 laps;
Laps: 3-6 (No. 51 Spin Turn 2 [None]);
24-28 (No. 19, 8 Incident Turn 4 [33]);
47-53 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
92-99 (Stage 2 Conclusion [5]);
101-106 (No. 8, 21 Incident Turn 3 [56]).

Lead Changes: 9 among 7 drivers;
A. Hill (P) 0;
B. Rhodes 1-29;
C. Smith 30;
B. Rhodes 31-48;
T. Gilliland 49;
S. Creed No.  50-65;
B. Jones(i) 66-94;
J. Sauter 95-99;
B. Jones(i) 100-106;
S. Friesen (P) 107-150.

Duralast GT Brakes Brake in the Race Award - Stage 1: Ben Rhodes, No. 99
Duralast GT Brakes Brake in the Race Award - Stage 2: Brandon Jones, No. 51
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Stewart Friesen, No. 52