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The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday, Sept. 20 with a playoff race.
Photo Michael Jaworecki/Myracenews
LOUDON, N.H. – When New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) was added back to the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) schedule for the first time since 2017, it immediately brought thoughts of a happy homecoming to Stewart Friesen.
The driver and co-owner of the No. 52 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Halmar Friesen Racing, Friesen is a native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario – about an eight-hour drive west of the track – and now lives only three hours away. He is well aware of the spirit New England and Canadian fans bring to tracks around the U.S. and southern Canada throughout the racing season.
“We have a lot of great race fans from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick,” said Friesen, who enters this weekend’s Kansas race 11th in the NCTS point standings with one top-five and three top-10s on the season. “We got to race up there last year and meet some of those people, so it’s a great melting pot for the Canadian fans to come down and get their NASCAR fix.”
This year’s NCTS race at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 is one of three big races at “The Magic Mile” from Sept. 19-21. It will be preceded on Doubleheader Saturday by the Mohegan Sun 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) race at 9:15 a.m. and followed by the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) playoff race at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21.
“Our friends from the north make up a significant percentage of our fan base and are deeply ingrained in the culture here at ‘The Magic Mile,’” said New Hampshire Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager David McGrath. “We’re excited to welcome all of the Truck Series drivers back to NHMS after eight years, but knowing someone like Stewart Friesen will be here competing for not only his first win at his home track, but possibly in pursuit of his first championship, is exciting. I’m confident the grandstands will be cheering extra loud for the No. 52.”
A true international venue, both the American and Canadian flags fly year-round along the backstretch of “The Magic Mile.” Nearly 15% of NHMS’s NASCAR weekend campers are Canadian, as are 10% of “The Magic Mile’s” NASCAR ticketholders. NHMS’s 2025 racing season opened a couple weekends ago with the fifth annual Northeast Classic headlined by the American-Canadian Tour, North America’s most historic Late Model stock car tour.
NHMS’s Truck race will be the 21st NCTS event overall at NHMS’s flat 1.058-mile oval and is a critical stop in the NCTS playoffs, as the field of championship contenders will be reduced from 10 to eight after the event.
Friesen, a three-time NCTS race winner in his 10th season in the series, is aiming to be one of those contenders as he tries to earn his first NASCAR national championship. Friesen’s best NCTS season finish came in 2019 when he placed fourth.
One of Friesen’s top race finishes early in his NCTS career came at NHMS when he finished fifth in 2017 in the last Truck event at “The Magic Mile” before this year’s return.
“[New Hampshire] is one of our home tracks on the NASCAR schedule,” Friesen said. “That was where we got our first top-five, and then it came off the schedule. Every year the schedule comes out, you always look to see if New Hampshire’s back. To see New Hampshire back on the schedule is something I’m really, really excited about to race in front of our Northeast fans.
“The Northeast fanbase is really strong. There’s a lot of NASCAR love up in New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, so it’s going to be really, really fun to get back there.”
A longtime legend of dirt tracks throughout the Northeast, Friesen, now 41, said NHMS’s challenging layout brings to mind another tough track from his modified career.
“[NHMS] reminds me of the old Syracuse Mile where we had a lot of success with the dirt modifieds,” Friesen said. “It’s a big one-mile track, it’s racey and you can move around, and we’ve had some success there, so we’re really excited to be back. It’s one of my favorite tracks to race, and I just hope we bring a wicked fast truck.”
Tickets:
For tickets and camping for New England’s only NASCAR Playoffs weekend, featuring the NCS and NCTS playoff races, Mohegan Sun 100 NWMT race and SIG SAUER Academy Dirt Duels, fans should visit NHMS.com or call 833-4LOUDON. Tickets for kids 12 and under are just $10 on Sunday, free on Doubleheader Saturday and start at $10 on Friday.
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Keep track of all of New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s events by following on Facebook (@NHMotorSpeedway), X (@NHMS) and Instagram (@NHMS). Keep up with all the latest information on the speedway website (NHMS.com) and mobile app.
