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By KEVIN RICE
Loudon, NH – Michael Christopher Jr., made his first start with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series a success, finishing ironically in position 13, impressing Stewart Friesen and the many New England fans who came to watch. That was just hours after an impressive first New Hampshire Motor Speedway outing in the NASCAR Modified Tour race on Saturday morning.
After struggling through Friday practice in the Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota truck, and qualifying to a 29th starting position, the 26-year-old from Wolcott, Connecticut made gains right from the green flag of the EJP 175. He advanced nine positions in the first 13 laps, and to 18th place before the first caution waved on lap 33.
“I think I got much more comfortable with it over time, actually kind of right away” he said after the race. “It was just figuring out what the pace was and watching everybody else race, and how they entered the corner.
“That was the thing that was screwing me up yesterday (in practice) was I felt the thing pitching sideways on me on entry. I don’t know if I got over that or ran a different pace, but I just felt much more confident entering on the brakes, That helped a lot.”
After working his way into the top 15, Christopher was penalized by NASCAR for, “changing lanes on the restart”, putting him back in position 23.
“I missed a shift,” he reasoned. “It’s not like I tried to move out of line, but that is the rule. That’s what I’ve got to figure out. Did it hurt us? I don’t really know because at the end of the day we still finished pretty well.”
After the setback, Christopher gradually worked his way back to 17th place by lap 68, lining up in position 20 for the lap 107 restart after Patrick Emerling had spun into the turn one wall. He continued to make a slow progression towards the front, moving back into the top 15 and then to position 12 on lap 122.
He lined up on the inside of row seven for the final restart on lap 142. Over the final 30 laps Christopher spent time swapping eleventh place with Tyler Ankrum and then he was later passed by championship contender Daniel Hemric, resulting in a thirteenth place finish, the same number on his Modified in memory of uncle Ted Christopher.
Through the second half of the race especially, Christopher appeared to be more comfortable racing the truck, using his Stafford Motor Speedway experience to get a solid entry into the turns on the inside. He then utilized a truck that turned well in the center to conclude a successful first outing in the NCTS.
“This thing was fast,” he concluded. “Even the last run there with 10 to go I think we were running really good lap times. If they just got someone that knew how to get through the gears and start a little better, they might have a winning race truck. All in all I am happy about it.
“I really enjoyed running the bottom. It really felt like a short track. You drive the thing in, slow it up real good and kind of use the brakes to get you through the center. Use the throttle to get it to turn. I really enjoyed the bottom, so I was going to stay there as much as I could. It’s a beautiful truck. I hope the guys at Halmar are as satisfied with it as I am.”
Stewart Friesen was at the track both days, helping coach the driver of the number 62 truck, as well as his primary truck, driven to a seventh place finish by Kaden Honeycutt, putting that team into the next round of the NCTS playoffs.
“It was very impressive,” Friesen said of Christopher’s first truck start. “We fed him a LOT of information today from the get-go to the end and he raced his butt off. Did a great job. Proud of him. It was super cool to have him in this truck. I know he has wanted to do this for a couple of years. We’ve been talking.
“Big thanks to Mohawk Northeast and USNE Power for coming on board for this. A top 15 in this group is no slouch. There’s 25 trucks that can win any given week here, so we’re proud of it and everybody at HFR. It’s a small group we have and to field two trucks has been a lot of long hours for these guys. They’ve been digging and grinding and we’ve got the 52 locked into the next round and a thirteenth for the 62. It was a really good day for us.”
Friesen also spoke to AARN about his weekend at the track and the difficulty of having to watch instead of being on the track.
“It’s hard,” he said. “When Michael was struggling, especially in practice I’m like, damn I just wish I could hop in that thing and do two laps and see what it’s got.
“Being back at the track is good, but when I got back to the motor home last night I was struggling. Getting better every day I feel like, and a little more movement, but it’s still a long road (to recovery).”
Modified Finish That Wasn’t
Equally as impressive for Christopher was his performance in his first NHMS start in the NWMT Mohegan Sun 100 on Saturday morning. An oil leak in practice cut his lap count down to just 15, but after the repair was made he went out and put himself at number 13 on the board, later qualifying in position 11.
Christopher was among the lead pack of drivers when it mattered most. He drove from fifth to third place on laps 87 and 88, staying there to be set up for a race to the finish with Justin Bonsignore and Tyler Rypkema.
The green waved for a restart on lap 99 and as he entered turn one the car went up in smoke and he pulled to the infield pit area.
“I had my plan all set,” he offered. “We were going to be third on a green-white-checker. The car was really good. I put it through the gear, got down into turn one and the rod went through the block. Not ideal at all.
“I was trying to bide my time before the yellow came out (lap 94) because the 3 (Rypkema) didn’t want to pass the 51 (Bonsignore) and I didn’t want to get passed by Jon McKennedy either.
“Once the yellow came out I kind of had a plan in place that probably would have worked because those guys were wrecking off of four. I wanted to stay in third, but we grenaded the thing going into turn one and all was lost. We won’t be racing it at Thompson or Martinsville for sure now.”
The end result of that was a 16th place finish that could have been a race win, but he was able to head straight to the truck and make a successful debut in that.
Christopher will next focus on trying to obtain enough sponsorship to make more NCTS starts in 2026, now as a proven talent that is capable of success.
Loudon, NH – Michael Christopher Jr., made his first start with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series a success, finishing ironically in position 13, impressing Stewart Friesen and the many New England fans who came to watch. That was just hours after an impressive first New Hampshire Motor Speedway outing in the NASCAR Modified Tour race on Saturday morning.
After struggling through Friday practice in the Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota truck, and qualifying to a 29th starting position, the 26-year-old from Wolcott, Connecticut made gains right from the green flag of the EJP 175. He advanced nine positions in the first 13 laps, and to 18th place before the first caution waved on lap 33.
“I think I got much more comfortable with it over time, actually kind of right away” he said after the race. “It was just figuring out what the pace was and watching everybody else race, and how they entered the corner.
“That was the thing that was screwing me up yesterday (in practice) was I felt the thing pitching sideways on me on entry. I don’t know if I got over that or ran a different pace, but I just felt much more confident entering on the brakes, That helped a lot.”
After working his way into the top 15, Christopher was penalized by NASCAR for, “changing lanes on the restart”, putting him back in position 23.
“I missed a shift,” he reasoned. “It’s not like I tried to move out of line, but that is the rule. That’s what I’ve got to figure out. Did it hurt us? I don’t really know because at the end of the day we still finished pretty well.”
After the setback, Christopher gradually worked his way back to 17th place by lap 68, lining up in position 20 for the lap 107 restart after Patrick Emerling had spun into the turn one wall. He continued to make a slow progression towards the front, moving back into the top 15 and then to position 12 on lap 122.
He lined up on the inside of row seven for the final restart on lap 142. Over the final 30 laps Christopher spent time swapping eleventh place with Tyler Ankrum and then he was later passed by championship contender Daniel Hemric, resulting in a thirteenth place finish, the same number on his Modified in memory of uncle Ted Christopher.
Through the second half of the race especially, Christopher appeared to be more comfortable racing the truck, using his Stafford Motor Speedway experience to get a solid entry into the turns on the inside. He then utilized a truck that turned well in the center to conclude a successful first outing in the NCTS.
“This thing was fast,” he concluded. “Even the last run there with 10 to go I think we were running really good lap times. If they just got someone that knew how to get through the gears and start a little better, they might have a winning race truck. All in all I am happy about it.
“I really enjoyed running the bottom. It really felt like a short track. You drive the thing in, slow it up real good and kind of use the brakes to get you through the center. Use the throttle to get it to turn. I really enjoyed the bottom, so I was going to stay there as much as I could. It’s a beautiful truck. I hope the guys at Halmar are as satisfied with it as I am.”
Stewart Friesen was at the track both days, helping coach the driver of the number 62 truck, as well as his primary truck, driven to a seventh place finish by Kaden Honeycutt, putting that team into the next round of the NCTS playoffs.
“It was very impressive,” Friesen said of Christopher’s first truck start. “We fed him a LOT of information today from the get-go to the end and he raced his butt off. Did a great job. Proud of him. It was super cool to have him in this truck. I know he has wanted to do this for a couple of years. We’ve been talking.
“Big thanks to Mohawk Northeast and USNE Power for coming on board for this. A top 15 in this group is no slouch. There’s 25 trucks that can win any given week here, so we’re proud of it and everybody at HFR. It’s a small group we have and to field two trucks has been a lot of long hours for these guys. They’ve been digging and grinding and we’ve got the 52 locked into the next round and a thirteenth for the 62. It was a really good day for us.”
Friesen also spoke to AARN about his weekend at the track and the difficulty of having to watch instead of being on the track.
“It’s hard,” he said. “When Michael was struggling, especially in practice I’m like, damn I just wish I could hop in that thing and do two laps and see what it’s got.
“Being back at the track is good, but when I got back to the motor home last night I was struggling. Getting better every day I feel like, and a little more movement, but it’s still a long road (to recovery).”
Modified Finish That Wasn’t
Equally as impressive for Christopher was his performance in his first NHMS start in the NWMT Mohegan Sun 100 on Saturday morning. An oil leak in practice cut his lap count down to just 15, but after the repair was made he went out and put himself at number 13 on the board, later qualifying in position 11.
Christopher was among the lead pack of drivers when it mattered most. He drove from fifth to third place on laps 87 and 88, staying there to be set up for a race to the finish with Justin Bonsignore and Tyler Rypkema.
The green waved for a restart on lap 99 and as he entered turn one the car went up in smoke and he pulled to the infield pit area.
“I had my plan all set,” he offered. “We were going to be third on a green-white-checker. The car was really good. I put it through the gear, got down into turn one and the rod went through the block. Not ideal at all.
“I was trying to bide my time before the yellow came out (lap 94) because the 3 (Rypkema) didn’t want to pass the 51 (Bonsignore) and I didn’t want to get passed by Jon McKennedy either.
“Once the yellow came out I kind of had a plan in place that probably would have worked because those guys were wrecking off of four. I wanted to stay in third, but we grenaded the thing going into turn one and all was lost. We won’t be racing it at Thompson or Martinsville for sure now.”
The end result of that was a 16th place finish that could have been a race win, but he was able to head straight to the truck and make a successful debut in that.
Christopher will next focus on trying to obtain enough sponsorship to make more NCTS starts in 2026, now as a proven talent that is capable of success.
