NASCAR Truck series regular Stewart Friesen went from throwing dirt to throwing it all away—quite literally—when his car erupted into a fireball of pain and busted metal in Quebec Monday night.
Already locked into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs, Friesen took his talents to Autodrome Drummond in Canada. Because if you’re Stewart Friesen, running one race in a weekend is like having one potato chip—you simply don’t. Unfortunately, that hunger for speed has now landed him in a hospital bed with a fractured leg, a shattered pelvis, and pain levels likely only rivaled by being strapped to a rocket during re-entry.
The crash happened during a Super DIRTcar Series race when Stewart’s No. 44 dirt modified car tipped up onto its right side, nailed the end of the outside wall, flipped like a fish out of water, caught fire, then got clobbered by another poor soul who had nowhere else to go. If there were any remaining boxes on the crash bingo card, Friesen punched them all.
The result? A fractured right leg and what doctors refer to as an “unstable open-book pelvic fracture.” What that really means is the pelvic bone is now several bones, spread out like a paperback novel tossed into a ceiling fan. Oh, and there’s a hematoma the size of a grapefruit thrown in for good measure.
The good news? According to Friesen’s wife Jessica, CT scans showed no damage to Stewart’s head, neck, or spine. His vital signs are stable, and after a round of painkillers strong enough to make a horse feel like it’s on a beach in Cabo, he’s reportedly resting and in better spirits. But make no mistake: this is serious. Both injuries require surgery, and he’s already been transferred to a different hospital for the procedures.
Friesen, who is currently 13th in the Truck Series standings, had already done the hard bit by winning at Michigan back on June 7—his fourth career Truck win—which guaranteed him a playoff spot. Only ten drivers make the postseason in Trucks, and seven of them are in on wins. Friesen’s already on the list. Which is fortunate, because there’s simply no way he’s getting behind the wheel anytime soon unless it’s attached to a hospital bed.
With just two races left in the regular season before the Truck Series heads to Darlington on August 30 to kick off the playoffs, the big question now is whether Friesen will be in any condition to race—or even walk—by then. NASCAR’s rules allow medical waivers, and he’s already locked in on the strength of that Michigan win, but waiver or not, you still have to be physically able to drive. And with a pelvis that reportedly now resembles a jigsaw puzzle and a leg held together by the medical equivalent of duct tape, the odds aren’t exactly stacked in his favor.
For now, fans can only wish Friesen a speedy recovery—and marvel at the fact that in a career filled with checkered flags and dirt-covered trophies, it was a Monday night in Quebec that delivered his most brutal reminder of what’s always at stake when the helmet goes on.
Update from Jessica Friesen. pic.twitter.com/r87lsjGcm1
— Stewart Friesen (@StewartFriesen) July 29, 2025
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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