NASCAR Truck Series driver Stewart Friesen is in serious but stable condition at a Quebec hospital after being injured in a horrific crash while competing in the Super DIRTcar Series King of the North race at Autodrome Drummond on Monday night. Friesen, 42, suffered pelvic and leg fractures, among other injuries.
Friesen was racing in traffic and made a three-wide move to the outside down the backstretch, but went out of the groove and hit the outside wall, launching his car high into the air where it rolled over and landed hard on its rear end. That caused the car to catch fire before it rolled back into traffic. Friesen was then struck by another car while rolling upside down, sending his car pirouetting again before coming to rest right side up.
Friesen was said to be alert and talking as he was removed from his car before being transported to a local hospital Monday night. Per his wife Jessica, CT scans showed that Friesen had avoided any head, neck, or spine injuries, but suffered an unstable/open-book pelvic fracture (a broken pelvis in two or more places) with a large hematoma in the area while also fracturing his right leg. Both injuries will require surgery.
Friesen, who is said to be “in a tremendous amount of pain,” will be transferred to a hospital in New York Wednesday, where he will undergo multiple surgeries on his injuries.
“We want to thank everyone here at the hospital in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, for the outstanding care, and several members of the racing community who have helped facilitate getting Stewart closer to home,” read a statement by Jessica Friesen. “The outpouring of support from all of our racing family has been overwhelming, in the best way.
“Thank you for all of your outreach and encouragement as we continue to work through the next steps in Stewart’s recovery.”
Friesen, a native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, is a veteran of 200 starts in the Truck Series and has four career wins, including just over a month ago at Michigan International Speedway. The win locked Friesen into the Truck Series playoffs, giving him a chance to contend for the championship after previously making it to the Championship 4 and finishing a career-best fourth in the standings in 2019.
With Friesen presumably sidelined indefinitely, his absence will change the complexion of the battle for the remaining Truck Series playoff spots with two races to go in the regular season. Defending series champion Ty Majeski had held the final spot above the cut line by 61 points over Jake Garcia, but the cut line will now likely move down to Garcia, who possesses just a 16-point edge on Ben Rhodes and a 38-point advantage on Gio Ruggiero.
Friesen had crossed the finish line third in last Friday night’s Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, but was later disqualified after his truck failed post-race inspection for its front heights being too low. The Halmar Friesen Racing team had announced their intentions to appeal the penalty, claiming it was caused by an in-race part failure. The Craftsman Truck Series’ next race is on Aug. 8 at Watkins Glen International.
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