Stewart Friesen's NASCAR truck features tribute to late team member

Stewart Friesen has updated his NASCAR No. 52 truck with a logo on the front hood honoring team fabricator Jon Gurley, who died earlier this month.

Gurley died on May 14 at the age of 40 after an ATV accident in Virginia.

“With extremely heavy hearts we announce the loss of our brother and (teammate), Jon Gurley,” Friesen tweeted on May 16. “Jon was a true warrior here at HFR he leaves a huge void in our team. We will march on and keep fighting as that is what he would want us to do, and we will do so in his honor. We dedicate the remainder of this season to Jon and we are going to give it everything we’ve got for Jon and his family.”

The team had a toast for Jon Gurley today during the load in of our Charlotte Truck. This truck is named after Jon in his honor.
It’s Charlotte Race Week! We’ll be on the track tomorrow! Let’s go! #jongurley pic.twitter.com/8W3xEoiczc

— Stewart Friesen (@StewartFriesen) May 25, 2023

Friesen finished in 22nd this Friday racing in the truck in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

He has three top five finishes the season and Gurley played his part in all three of them. Friesen finished in the second at the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway, third at the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway and fourth at the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway.

Friesen ranks 11th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings.

With extremely heavy hearts we announce the loss of our brother and teamate, Jon Gurley.

Jon was a true warrior here at HFR he leaves a huge void in our team.

We will march on and keep fighting as that is what he would want us to do, and we will do so in his honor.

We… pic.twitter.com/CQnOxml3Xu

— Stewart Friesen (@StewartFriesen) May 16, 2023

Ben Rhodes won the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, his first victory on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season.

“The whole season is so hard to put together,” Rhodes said after the race, via NASCAR.com. “It’s unbelievably hard, and it’s only gotten more difficult over the years…. A championship being locked in, I’ll take that. The last three races have been so unbelievably hard on my team. We’ve been wrecked in the last three and haven’t had very good showings because of it. So I’ll take the points — thank you.”

The North Carolina race is the first of the three 2023 Triple Truck Challenge races with the next one coming next week at the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

“I feel really good about Gateway, actually,” Rhodes said. “Over the years, that’s a track that we’ve had tremendous speed but somehow, we’ve never been able to bring one home,” Rhodes lamented. “Last year, we were leading with like 15 to go. Alternator goes out, and we’re starting to lose horsepower, lose voltage. We’ve got speed which gives me a lot of confidence.”