Dejected Stewart Friesen wonders if it's "freaking worth it anymore"

Friesen appeared disillusioned after crashing out of Friday's NASCAR Truck race at Rockingham

On Friday, the NASCAR Truck Series returned to Rockingham for the first time since 2013. Among those in the field was veteran driver Stewart Friesen, but it was not the day he needed.

It started with an incident in qualifying and the team scrambled to fix the truck in time for the start of the race. They succeeded and Friesen marched his way up inside the top ten, but on Lap 117, they watched as it all fell apart.

Rajah Caruth bobbled in front of Friesen, who quickly lifted. Matt Mills, who was directly behind Friesen, did not check up nearly enough and ran into the back of him. Friesen slammed the outside wall before spinning across the track where he got hit by Tanner Gray.

Everyone was okay after the incident, but Friesen was not in a happy place. He gave a candid interview to Fox Sports 1 after being released from the infield care center, openly wondering if he even wanted to continue with his NASCAR career.

"Tried to go wide open in qualifying and kissed the wall," said Friesen as he reflected on the difficult day. "They did a really good job of putting it back together. It was just as fast in the race as it was in practice. Just trying to bide our time. Saw Rajah get loose and tried to check up as much as I could and got run over."

"Maybe not worth it anymore"

Friesen continued: "It is what it is. I'll tell you, the last two weeks, we've had really fast trucks but it really makes me question if all these headaches are even freaking worth it anymore. It's what I've wanted to do my whole life -- race at this level. The top two series (Cup and Xfinity) are not in my lifetime so this is what I live and die for. I don't know, maybe not worth it anymore."

It was a stunning admission from the Truck Series regular, who was obviously frustrated after getting wrecked out of the race. Friesen has nearly 200 starts in the NASCAR Truck Series, where he has competed as a full-time driver since 2018. He has not visited Victory Lane in three years, but he nearly won earlier this year after losing out to Kyle Busch in a thrilling photo finish at Atlanta.