Friesen was strong all night, leading a race-high 60 laps. At the finish, he was just 0.122s clear of Christian Eckes.
“I made all the mistakes I needed to make in the first two segments,” said Friesen after the race. “I had an awesome truck. Finally, we have something to celebrate,” he said. “Thanks, you guys. Thanks everyone at Toyota and TRD. You have no idea the work that has gone into this race team over the past three years to build this up. It’s an awesome group. We’re in the playoffs – how about that?
“The No. 17 lined up with me (on the last restart) and I was like, ‘Alright, I got (Ryan) Preece – I got a real racer in my back pocket.’ He shoved the heck out of me. I’m terrible on restarts. I didn’t spin the tires. It was fine through (Turns) 1 and 2 and it stuck.”
Eckes, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar, and Ty Majeski rounded out the top-five. John-Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto completed the top-ten.
Stage 1
Pole-sitter Nemechek was forced to start from the rear of the field after the team made an unapproved adjustment before the race.
At the start, Friesen prevailed after a brief battle with Heim while Z. Smith shot up the track at the end of the opening lap, saving the truck just before reaching the wall.
The first caution of the race was for a spin by Chris Hacker.
Preece, who is running part-time this season, made his presence known at the front as he took the race lead.
He held off a late charge to win the stage, followed by Friesen, ZSmith, Eckes, CSmith, Nemechek, Majeski, Rhodes, Kraus and Heim.
Stage 2
Friesen wasn’t able to pass Preece on the track, but his crew got the job done on pit road.
During that round of stops, C. Smith needed to return to the pits to tighten lug nuts while Z. Smith was penalized for equipment interference.
The stage was fairly uneventful after that as Friesen dominated. However, slower traffic presented an opportunity and Preece was able to retake the race lead.
He won yet another stage, again followed by Friesen. Nemechek, Rhodes, Eckes, Kraus, Heim, Majeski, Chastain, and Ankrum rounded out the remainder of the top-ten.
Stage 3
Nemechek jumped ahead on pit road while chaos erupted behind him. Rhodes was sent to the rear for an uncontrolled tire and Heim was sent spinning after contact leaving his pit stall.
Nemechek held the lead until a caution involving Majeski and Kraus. Surprisingly, Nemechek chose to pit and restarted deep in the field.
His decision left Friesen and Eckes to battle it out for the race win. Friesen was able to complete the pass for the lead with 49 laps to go.
However, more restarts will still to come as Kris Wright got into the wall. The field filed down pit road for what should have been the final stop for most. Some trucks opted to take no tires/two tires and one truck – Chase Purdy, even stayed out.
The Niece trucks briefly controlled the race before Eckes took the lead.
With 20 laps to go, Ankrum spun after contact with Enfinger. No one up front pitted. The fight for the lead was fierce as Friesen and Eckes continued to battle.
Their battle had to pause for the seventh caution of the race when Rhodes crashed on the backstretch. This set up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag.
Friesen, with a push from Preece, got an excellent restart and slid up in front of Eckes. Friesen would cross the finish line just ahead of Eckes, capturing the checkered flag in a much-needed victory for the No. 52 team.