 | |
| Owner(s) | Chris Larsen Stewart Friesen |
|---|---|
| Base | Statesville, North Carolina |
| Series | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series |
| Race drivers | 52.Stewart Friesen 62. TBA |
| Manufacturer | Toyota |
| Opened | 2016 |
| Career | |
| Debut | 2016Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora) |
| Latest race | 2025NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race (Phoenix) |
| Races competed | 213 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 4 |
| Pole positions | 3 |
Halmar Friesen Racing, also known asHalmar Racing Team, is an American professionalstock car racing anddirt track racing team that currently competes in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielding the No. 52Toyota Tundra forStewart Friesen full-time and the No. 62 Toyota full-time.
The team also fieldsmodified racing cars for several drivers around theNortheastern United States, including for Stewart and his wifeJessica.
The team ran part-time in 2016, using the No. 16 and entering the short track races with Friesen as driver.[1] For the team's debut race at Eldora, the truck had a body fromKyle Busch Motorsports and an engine fromRichard Childress Racing.[2]
| Year | Driver | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | NCTC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Stewart Friesen | 16 | Chevy | DAY | ATL | MAR | KAN | DOV | CLT | TEX | IOW | GTW | KEN | ELD 28 | POC | BRI 22 | MCH | MSP | CHI | NHA 13 | LVS 19 | TAL | MAR | TEX | PHO 18 | HOM 29 | 33rd | 69 |
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In 2017, the team announced plans to run the full Truck Series schedule as Halmar Friesen Racing with Friesen driving the renumbered No. 52 truck.[3] HFR hired Cup Series team ownerTommy Baldwin Jr. ofTommy Baldwin Racing (which reduced from a full-time to a part-time Cup Series schedule in 2017) to serve as team manager.[4] After the June Texas race, the team announced a two-race hiatus and that they would return in Kentucky in July.[5] Friesen captured the pole for the 2017Eldora Dirt Derby and finished second toMatt Crafton in the race after leading over half of the laps.[6] On August 23, HFR announced the end of its partnership with Baldwin and the start of a new technical alliance withGMS Racing.[7] The same day the team announce that Tommy Baldwin's brother in law, longtime NASCAR crew chief, Trip Bruce would take over running the team and has remained a staple at HFR from 2018 to 2021 as Stewart's Crew Chief and in 2022 moved into the role of Director of Competition.
For 2018, HFR continued the alliance with GMS, so much so that GMS driverJohnny Sauter referenced Friesen as a teammate. After advancing to the playoffs and a best finish of second on three occasions throughout the year, he finished seventh in the final points standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
On July 11, 2019, NASCAR confiscated the No. 52 truck before theKentucky race after discovering an issue with the firewall during pre-race inspection. The team was able to use their backup truck, which finished second in the race.[8] On August 1, 2019, Friesen finally broke through to win his first career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race atEldora.[9] Friesen would also go onto win atPhoenix Raceway later that year.
On December 3, 2019, it was announced that the team would switch fromChevrolet toToyota in an alliance withKyle Busch Motorsports starting in 2020, thus ending their previous alliance withGMS Racing.[10] In 2020, after Friesen missed the playoffs, he decided to skip the race atKansas Speedway in October in order to compete in a dirt race on the same day.Timothy Peters would fill in for Friesen in the No. 52 in the Truck Series race.[11] Friesen would run his fourth full season in the Truck Series in 2021 and would make the playoffs again despite not winning any races that year.
On May 20, 2022, Friesen broke a 54-race winless streak in the Truck Series by scoring his third career victory atTexas Motor Speedway after passingChristian Eckes for the lead in overtime. Friesen returned to the Truck Series in2023. He scored five top-fives and seven top-tens, but went winless and missed the playoffs. He finished twelfth in the final standings. The2024 season would follow a similar trend, with Friesen scoring seven top-ten finishes and one top-five, as well as a pole atNashville. He would again finish twelfth in the standings.
Friesen started the2025 season with a 23rd-place finish atDaytona. Friesen broke a 72-race drought with a win atMichigan intriple-overtime.[12] In late July, Friesen was involved in a high-speed accident while competing in aSuper DIRTcar Series event at Autodrome Drummond. Friesen sustained fractures to his pelvis and right leg.[13]Christopher Bell substituted for Friesen atWatkins Glen, whileKaden Honeycutt substituted for Friesen for the final eight races, starting atRichmond.[14][15]
On March 11, 2021,Jessica Friesen announced that she would make her Truck Series debut in theBristol dirt race, driving the No. 62 and competing alongside her husband.[16] However, she failed to qualify after rain washed out the heat races.[17] Instead, she would make her debut in the other dirt race for the Truck Series atKnoxville Raceway, theCorn Belt 150.[18] Jessica finished 26th, one position better than Stewart.[19]
After having not driven in NASCAR for five years,Todd Bodine returned to the Truck Series to drive for Halmar Friesen Racing in the No. 62 atLas Vegas.[20] The CEO of series title sponsor Camping World,Marcus Lemonis, stated that Camping World would sponsor Bodine for six races to get him to 800 overall starts inNASCAR.[21] Bodine would compete in the 6 races during which he would finish five races, lead three laps, and score a top-ten finish atDarlington.[22] In his 800th and final overall NASCAR race atPocono, Bodine would finish 36th after he crashed twelve laps into the race.[23]
On March 28, 2022, the team announced that Jessica Friesen would return to drive the No. 62 in the two dirt races again.[24] She would fail to qualify at Bristol for the second consecutive year.[25] She would go onto to race at Knoxville where she had a rollover crash on lap 58 after hitting the tracks berm. The accident was not shown in theFox Sports broadcast of the race.[26] Jessica would remain in the race after the accident, finishing 34th.[27]
In July 2022, it was announced thatNASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series driverLayne Riggs would make his Truck Series debut, driving the No. 62 truck atIRP, and would finish seventh.[28][29] The next race atRichmond, Riggs would qualify 4th, but would finish the race two laps down in nineteenth place.[30] Riggs would make his final start of the year at the season finale atPhoenix where he would qualify second and lead five laps early in the race, but he would later drop back and finish thirteenth.[31]
In 2023, Jessica would return to the series but would fail to qualify for theBristol dirt race.[32][33]
On June 23, 2025, it was announced thatWesley Slimp would make his Truck Series debut atLime Rock Park, with Slimp competing at all three road course races as part of the deal.[34][35] On August 10, it was announced that Super Late Model standoutCole Butcher would make his Truck Series debut atBristol.[36] On August 29, it was announced thatMike Christopher Jr. (nephew of the lateTed Christopher) will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut atNew Hampshire.[37]
| Year | Driver | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | NCTC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Jessica Friesen | 62 | Toyota | DAY | DRC | LVS | ATL | BRD DNQ | RCH | KAN | DAR | COA | CLT | TEX | NSH | POC | KNX 26 | GLN | GTW | DAR | BRI | LVS | TAL | MAR | PHO | 78th | 11 | |||
| 2022 | Todd Bodine | DAY | LVS 21 | ATL | COA | MAR | DAR 10 | KAN | TEX 13 | CLT | GTW | SON 20 | NSH 27 | MOH | POC 36 | 34th | 177 | |||||||||||||
| Jessica Friesen | BRD DNQ | KNX 34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Layne Riggs | IRP 7 | RCH 19 | KAN | BRI | TAL | HOM | PHO 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Jessica Friesen | DAY | LVS | ATL | COA | TEX | BRD DNQ | MAR | KAN | DAR | NWS | CLT | GTW | NSH | MOH | POC | RCH | IRP | MLW | KAN | BRI | TAL | HOM | PHO | 56th | 0 | ||||
| 2025 | Wesley Slimp | DAY | ATL | LVS | HOM | MAR | BRI | CAR | TEX | KAN | NWS | CLT | NSH | MCH | POC | LRP 33 | IRP | GLN 12 | RCH | DAR | ROV 27 | TAL | MAR | 36th | 91 | |||||
| Cole Butcher | BRI 23 | PHO 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mike Christopher Jr. | NHA 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | TBA | DAY | ATL | STP | DAR | CAR | BRI | TEX | GLN | DOV | CLT | NSH | MCH | COR | LRP | NWS | IRP | RCH | NHA | BRI | KAN | ROV | PHO | TAL | MAR | HOM | ||||
