Friesen lost a shifter knob, hit the kill switch and lost the lead under caution; Then battled with Kyle Busch and made contact in a fierce battle for what he thought was the win
Stewart Friesen and Kyle Busch comment after contact at Kansas Speedway
Stewart Friesen was a man on mission at Kansas Speedway in last night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.
First he charged to the lead, taking it from Noah Gragson. Almost as soon as that happened, he hit the kill switch under caution and fell to 7th, under caution. 1 lap later he was back in 2nd and back in the race for the win.
“It’s pretty cool to be racing guys like Kyle and Noah for wins now. Just a testament to the GMS fab shop,” Stewart Friesen stated from the Kansas Speedway media center.
“The shifter knob broke off there, once we got the lead. Trying to figure out where it actually was in the car — Trying to make sure it didn’t get under a pedal or something. And trying to save fuel.”
“For whatever reason, I cycled the ignition. It went dead. I had to totally power down the car and power it back up. I really didn’t realize if you fall back those spots under yellow that you lose them. That was new to me.”
“It really didn’t hurt us too bad.”
“When I was a kid growing up at Ransomville Speedway, a track my family ran, I’m pretty sure a water truck we had was about the same way. It wasn’t a really big deal,” Friesen comments on shifting without a knob.
So where is the knob? Wear did it go in the truck? “That’s a good question. I have no idea.”
Moments after that, they dropped the green flag. In 1 lap, Friesen charged from 7th to 2nd. 3 wide the whole time, the shifter knob fault was just about nullified.
Incident with Kyle Busch
In the closing laps of the NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, Stewart Friesen and Kyle Busch made contact. Friesen first blocked the top lane as Busch had a charge.
Busch drove to the bottom, Friesen then tried to block but Busch was already there. They made contact and Busch was sent to the infield grass. He saved it, picked up minor damage and continued without a caution.
“To race a guy as talented as Kyle, is pretty darn cool. It’s something I never really dreamed about doing. At that point, we both pitted. In my head, we were racing for the win.”
Friesen and Kyle Busch both two tires tires on the final green flag pit stop. Friesen wasn’t aware that Noah Gragson was on a fast charge to the front with 4 fresh tires. In Friesen’s mind, he and Busch were going to be at the front when the front 6 cars eventually ran out of fuel.
“I was probably a little bit too aggressive. My apologies to Kyle, I didn’t mean to get him tore up. I didn’t mean to get him screwed up. Just trying to play a little bit of defense there. I got bottled up by a lap car.”
Kyle Busch later slipped back around Friesen to pick up the runner-up position as Noah Gragson picked up the win. Friesen held on to finish 3rd.
Does Kyle Busch accept the apology?
“Not at the moment,” Kyle Busch said from the media center at Kansas Speedway.
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Related: NASCAR Truck Series Results: Kansas Speedway
Links
Stewart Friesen | Kyle Busch |Â NASCARÂ |Â Kansas Speedway
