All the attention after Sunday’s Richmond race was on Kyle Larson, and rightly so. The HMS driver hustled out of the No. 5 car and flew to Knoxville, where he clinched his fourth career Knoxville Nationals title. Driving the No. 57 sprint car, Larson led all 50 laps of the A-Main feature to claim the $200,000 prize. But Larson wasn’t the only driver to pull off double duty and finish the weekend with a trophy.
Stewart Friesen suffered a DNF at Richmond during the Craftsman Truck Series race. But he had another objective this weekend, and like Larson, he flew to Fonda Speedway in New York to compete for a championship. Starting 22nd, Friesen drove his way through the field to finish fourth, which was enough to secure the Big-Block Modified championship.
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FloRacing shared the update on X: “🏆 @StewartFriesen flew from Richmond Raceway to @thefondaspdwy following Saturday’s #NASCAR Truck Series race and drove from 22nd to 4th to clinch the 2026 Modified championship.”
Alex Yankowski, who started the race 10th, weaved his way through traffic to secure the win. Meanwhile, Friesen’s wife, Jessica, finished second. One member of the Friesen family finished on the podium, while the other picked up the championship trophy. Stewart Friesen won seven of the 14 races and topped the standings with 736 points.
Stewart Friesen’s got a lot going on across multiple series, and it’s worth staying tuned to see how it all plays out. Subscribe for more interesting stories.
Yankowski, who won the feature at Fonda Speedway, finished second in the championship standings with three wins. Meanwhile, Friesen’s wife, Jessica, finished fourth overall. Now, this wasn’t a crown jewel event like the Knoxville Nationals, but Larson wasn’t the only driver to pull off double duty and end the weekend with a trophy.
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The only thing that could have made Friesen’s weekend better would have been a strong finish in the Truck Series race at Richmond. He suffered a tire failure with 30 laps to go and slammed his No. 52 truck into the wall. The crash came at the worst possible time. Coming into the race, Friesen had a narrow eight-point advantage over Tyler Ankrum for the 10th and final spot in the playoff standings.
But after the DNF, he has now dropped below the cutline and sits 11th in the standings. The gap between him and Ankrum is now 20 points, with just one race remaining in the regular season. Stewart Friesen’s hopes of making the championship race now rest on one final race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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