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RACING IS RACING, so when Stewart Friesen switches from a big block modified to a late model to a NASCAR truck, how different could it really be? Mastering the nuances of each category of racing to rise to the top is easier said than done. What Stewart Friesen has been doing over the last few years at each level of racing has been incredible.

In the span of a week, he may run two different NASCAR tracks, multiple dirt tracks, visit the shop in Statesville, North Carolina to snag simulator time for practice or spend time at the shop in Upstate New York preparing for his next dirt track conquest. In the past, he’s even run a dirt track race and a NASCAR race over the course of the same day. It is not the average experience for a toptier dirt track driver.

Stewart Friesen currently drives the number 52 Halmar Racing vehicle in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. But most dirt track fans know him from his exploits in upstate New York in the Super DIRTcar Series and the Bob Hilbert Short Track Super Series, driving the number 44 big block modified.

Friesen has seasoned into a top tier competitor at all levels of racing he participates in. Turning 39 this summer, he was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada but calls Sprakers, New York his home these days. It’s located about halfway between Albany and Utica off the New York Thruway. Friesen grew up in racing, his family owning Ransomville Speedway during his youth, just north of Niagara Falls, New York. Like many dirt track racers, he got his start in karting, then progressed to northeast big block modifieds in short order. Over the last decade he has risen to the top in dirt track racing, with multiple track championships to his credit. He seems especially fond of Fonda Speedway, where he captured track championships four years in a row from 2012-2015 and