Eldora's Golden Shovel Goes to Friesen

Stewart Friesen won the Dirt Derby at Eldora

Friesen Digs the Dirt Derby
(Rossburg, OH – Aug 1, 2019 – RIS) Stewart Friesen took home the golden shovel trophy after leading the final 57 laps of the seventh Gander Truck Series race at historic Eldora Speedway. Staying out at the end of the second stage left the Canadian racer at the front of the pack and in control for the remainder of the 150 lap dirt track race for his first series win.

Chase Briscoe ran at the front of the pack for the first 93 laps, pitting at the second stage end and eventually finishing in seventh place.

Ten yellow flags, plus the two stage ends, slowed the race to an average speed of only 41.247 miles per hour with the biggest crash of the evening coming on lap 62 and involving 14 trucks.

Following the race, Ben Rhodes and Tyler Dippel had an altercation following contact on track in the final few laps of the race.

“Oh man, thank you to all the race fans that stuck with us,” said Friesen. “Today, this is the day. This is the week. Thanks to everybody. This is meant to be. We needed to get it done on the dirt. Thanks to everyone. What a special event.”

Daytona Truck Series winner Austin Hill ended the night with his truck in the pits, falling out after 79 laps with crash damage suffered when he could not avoid contact with spinning trucks in front of him. “It was definitely a tough night for sure,"commented Hill. "We got our United Rentals Tundra going in the right direction and having a pretty fun time after the first stage and thought we were on pace to get into the top-10. The 51 looked like he got tangled up into (turn) one, and by the time I got there we just had nowhere to go. All these guys have been putting in a ton of hours on our trucks, and I’m ready to go to Michigan and get some positive results back on our side for all these guys.

“The 51 (Christian Eckes) started spinning and it’s so dusty out there that I didn’t even know that he was spinning until my spotter said something. I started getting on the brakes back a little past the flagstand and the next thing I knew I was getting hit from behind. You are on dirt; these things don’t stop on a dime, especially as heavy as they are. I kind of just got pushed straight into all the mess. There was really nowhere I could go there. Even if I wasn’t getting hit from behind, I don’t know if I could have turned down to miss it because I was already committed to run the top lane on entry. That’s where all the melee happened. Next thing you know four, five or six of us piled up together. I am not a dirt racer. I was just here to have fun. Especially since we are already locked into the playoffs; I was here to have some fun and see what I could do with it. I felt like we were making up some ground there. I know we only got up to like 16th or 17th, but I started getting the top rolling in pretty good and I was starting to feel a lot more confident running up there. We were going to stay out and see if we could get ahead of a few guys but the tow was knocked out so bad. We were nine or 10 laps down and we didn’t want to put more miles on the motor and possibly hurt something else. We will go back to the house and get ready for Michigan. I’m excited to go there and get back on pavement.”

Unofficial Race Results: 7th Annual Eldora Dirt Derby, Eldora Speedway - August 1, 2019

Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1)4, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Chevrolet, 150, 6, 2, 1, 57, 5, 54, Running
2)10, Sheldon Creed #, No. 2 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, 150, 4, , , , , 42, Running
3)15, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Champion Power Equipment Ford, 150, , 5, , , , 40, Running
4)23, Mike Marlar, No. 33 Smithbilt Homes Toyota, 150, , 8, , , , 36, Running
5)8, Todd Gilliland, No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM Toyota, 150, 2, 7, , , , 45, Running
6)17, Christian Eckes, No. 51 Mobil 1 Toyota, 150, , , , , , 31, Running
7)1, Chase Briscoe(i), No. 27 DiaEdge Ford, 150, 1, 1, 1, 93, , 0, Running
8)7, Tyler Dippel #, No. 02 Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet, 150, , 9, , , , 31, Running
9)26, Tyler Ankrum #, No. 17 DGR-Crosley Driver Development Toyota, 150, , , , , , 28, Running
10)2, Matt Crafton, No. 88 IdealDoor/Menards Ford, 150, 5, 3, , , , 41, Running
11)14, Justin Shipley, No. 80 Rogers Ford, 150, , , , , , 26, Running
12)12, Ross Chastain, No. 45 Niece/Jack Hewitt Tribute Chevrolet, 150, 9, 6, , , , 32, Running
13)32, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 24, Running
14)9, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Havoline Ford, 150, 7, 10, , , , 28, Running
15)24, Mark Smith, No. 38 Selinsgrove Speedway/Mach 1 Chassis , 150, , , , , , 22, Running
16)25, Tim Ward, No. 08 Country AF Radio Toyota, 150, , , , , , 21, Running
17)30, Darwin Peters Jr., No. 74 JR Peters Roadside Auto Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 20, Running
18)5, Kyle Strickler, No. 54 DGR-Crosley Driver Development Toyota, 149, 10, 4, , , , 27, Running
19)29, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet, 149, , , , , , 18, Running
20)21, Jeffrey Abbey, No. 44 Niece Equipment Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 17, Running
21)6, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Tenda Heal Ford, 145, , , , , , 16, Running
22)27, Norm Benning, No. 6 H&H Transport/KMO Racing Chevrolet, 145, , , , , , 15, Running
23)28, Mason Massey IV, No. 34 The Challenge Book Chevrolet, 144, , , , , , 14, Running
24)22, Landon Huffman, No. 20 K&L Ready Mix Chevrolet, 144, , , , , , 13, Running
25)13, Carson Hocevar, No. 3 Scott's/GMParts Now Chevrolet, 143, 8, , , , , 15, Running
26)18, Jake Griffin, No. 03 ClayneCrawfordFoundation.org Chevrolet, 143, , , , , , 11, Running
27)16, Colt Gilliam, No. 8 Business Machines Co/Hoopaugh Grading Chev, 143, , , , , , 10, Running
28)20, Gus Dean #, No. 12 OverkillRV.com Chevrolet, 142, , , , , , 9, Running
29)3, Brett Moffitt, No. 24 Arlon Graphics Chevrolet, 141, 3, , , , , 16, Running
30)31, Devin Dodson, No. 32 Reaume Brothers Racing Chevrolet, 141, , , , , , 7, Running
31)11, Harrison Burton #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 127, , , , , , 6, Running
32)19, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 79, , , , , , 5, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Comments:Stewart Friesen wins the Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway. This is his first victory in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Prior to the startof the race the following truck(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 17 (tire change). 

Time of Race:1 Hrs, 49 Mins, 6 Secs.
Total Race Length:150 Laps, 75. Miles
Average Speed:41.247 MPH
Margin of Victory:.728 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10:27, 4, 24, 2, 88, 52, 99, 3, 45, 54
Stage 2 Top 10:27, 52, 88, 54, 98, 45, 4, 33, 02, 99

Caution Flags:12 for 68 laps:
Laps: 14-17 (No. 20 Spin Turn 2 [None]):
25-31 (No. 03 Spin Turn 2 [22]):
42-42 (Stage 1 Conclusion [10]):
57-61 (No. 18 Spin Backstretch [10]):
65-72 (No. 3, 03, 12, 20, 32, 22, 51, 8, 16, 13, 34, 44, 18, 24 Incident Turn 1 [6]):
78-82 (No. 34 Spin Turn 4 [12]):
92-94 (Stage 2 Conclusion [38]):
96-102 (No. 45 Spin Turn 3 [38]):
105-115 (No. 54 Spin Turn 4 [74]):
121-125 (No. 6 Stopped On Track [10]):
134-138 (No. 51, 32 Incident Turn 2 [74]):
142-148 (No. 27, 99, 33 Incident Turn 1 [None]).

Lead Changes:1 between 2 drivers:
C. Briscoe(i) 1-93:
S. Friesen 94-150.