Ankrum Battles His Way Through Heartbreak in Kansas

Venue: Kansas Speedway

FINISH: 16th

Start: 12th

Stage 1: 20th

Stage 2: 7th

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 4th

Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST was poised to keep his hot-streak of top-five finishes alive in Kansas after a 12th-place qualifying effort Saturday afternoon. On the opening lap of the 134-lap event, Ankrum was shoved three-wide and forced up into the outside wall which caused extensive damage to the left-front of the No. 18 race truck and the loss of spot multiple spots. A caution came out on lap four and crew chief Mark Hillman called the young driver down pit road for damage control and a new set of Goodyear tires. After another quick stop before the restart, Ankrum was set to begin his charge back to the front. A caution with seven laps to go in Stage One allowed Ankrum to relay to his team that he was a little tight through the center but then started to feel lose all the way through the run. Ankrum came down pit road under yellow for four tires, fuel and a touch up on the left-front fender to roll out for a 20th-place Stage One finish. 

It was a quiet Stage Two, yet powerful. The San Bernardino, Calif. native began to plow his way through the field until a lap-50 yellow flag flew and the driver of the No. 18 followed the leaders and came down pit road for four tires and a top-off on some Sunoco fuel. A quick stop by the crew allowed Ankrum to restart the remaining laps of the stage in seventh, where he held on and finished Stage Two. Mark (Hillman, crew chief) made the call to stay out under the stage break and restart the final laps of the night sixth after the pit cycle. 

In the opening laps of the final stage, Ankrum battled hard to hold his spot while the green-flag pit stops started to fan out. Ankrum reported to the team he really needed to be freed up a touch and with 40 laps to go, the young driver came down pit road under green for four tires, fuel and a slight adjustment. An unfortunate caution arose as soon as the No. 18 pulled into his box, leading to series of unfortunate events that saw Ankrum restarting back in 19th. Throughout the closing laps, the driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet started to feel a bad vibration that was later determined to be a lose wheel. Ankrum fought hard to gain track position but ran out of time and was relegated to a 16th-place finish at Kansas Speedway. 

Tyler Ankrum Quote:

 “Tonight was a tough one. From lap one, nothing seemed to had gone our way all night long but in this sport you are bound to have nights like this. It is not the night this No. 18 team wanted to have nor did they deserve it, but we will bounce back from this, pick out heads up and move on the North Wilkesboro next week. Huge thanks to LIUNA for all the support. Super excited that we got to show these folks a good time regardless of the result.”