Ankrum Continues Fight for Chase Berth at Richmond
Venue: Richmond Raceway
Event: Black’s Tire 250
Date: Friday, August 14th
Location: Richmond, VA
Track Description: 0.750 -mile D-shaped oval short track
Distance: 250 laps, 187.5 miles (7:30 p.m. EST, FS1, SiriusXM)
Richmond Lights … Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet RST returns to Richmond Raceway this Friday night under the lights for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) event. This start will mark the young driver’s seventh start at the 0.75 mile D-shaped short track oval. Ankrum has tallied two top-five and three top-10 results at “The Action Track” with a best of third coming at this event back in 2021. Last season, the San Bernardino, Calif. native rallied back to an 11th-place result and looks to improve on that finish and get back inside the top 10 at Richmond.
Chase The Chase … After a ninth-place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Ankrum currently sits 11th in the NCTS point standings with only two races remaining in the regular season before The Chase. With The Chase housing just 10 drivers, 25-year-old driver is only eight points behind the cutline with two chances to gain points and move ahead of series competitor, Stewart Friesen who currently holds the final spot in the NCTS playoffs. Ankrum and the No. 18 team have full confidence in their program that they will be able to rise above and clinch that final spot to transfer into the playoffs over the next two weeks.
Spoiler Highlights … Tyler Ankrum and the No. 18 team are excited to welcome aboard LIUNA local contractor Saiia, to adorn the left-side spoiler for the Black’s Tire 250 this Friday at Richmond Raceway. Founded by Sam Saiia as Birmingham Excavating Co. in 1946, the company now known as Saiia is an industrial heavy civil contractor of choice for the power generation, mineral and aggregate mining, and pulp and paper markets. With more than 630 pieces of construction machinery in their fleet, over 500 employees, and experience working in 11 states, they have the resources and knowledge to complete projects of any scale.
Tune In …Television coverage on the Blacks Tire 250 will begin Friday afternoon with practice and qualifying starting at 1:00 PM ET on FS2, followed by the wave of the green flag at 7:30 PM ET on FS1. Stay connected with the No. 18 LIUNA team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“There is a lot riding on this No. 18 team for the next two weeks, that is for sure. It has been a struggle of a season but it is not over yet. These guys have been working really hard over the last two weeks on the break and I have a ton of confidence in this team, I really do. We are going to go out there and gain as many points as we an over the course of Richmond and New Hampshire and give it our all. We have over 60 folks from LIUNA and their local contractors in attendance this weekend so I am looking forward to putting on a good show for them and hopefully getting them into Victory Lane.”