Ankrum Dominates Early in Vegas, Banks Stage Win and Top-10

Venue: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

FINISH: 10th

Start: 2nd

Stage 1: 2nd

Stage 2: 1st

Laps Led: 39

NCTS Point Standings Position: 7th

Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet RST, started the race day off playing his cards right as the young driver set the No. 18 on the front row to start the NASCAR CFRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. On the opening laps of the 134-lap event, Ankrum made a bold move to the inside passing for the top spot and secured it as he went on to lead 14 laps. With just five laps to go in Stage One a rain shower appeared over the 1.5-mile oval which brought the field down pit road and under a red flag that ultimately ended the stage, scoring Ankrum in the second position.

As the rain cleared and trucks rolled back out on track, crew chief Mark Hillman called the young driver down pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight trackbar and air pressure adjustment. Zero spots were lost of pit road and the driver of the No. 18 rolled off second to start Stage Two until another rain cell appeared and brought the pack back down pit road for a short stint. The field went green with 23 laps to go in the stage and Ankrum quickly rose to the top spot where he held on to score his first stage win of the season. The San Bernardino, Calif. native reported to the team that he felt he needed to be better on the long runs to keep this Chevrolet RST up front.

The No. 18 came down pit road under the stage break for four tires fuel and another trackbar adjustment which led him to restart seventh. After the third rain delay of the night, the young driver started to make his charge back to the front util an on-track incident forced Ankrum up the track and into the outside wall as he tried to avoid the chaos, causing right side damage to the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet. The team faced damage control under caution that sent the driver to the back of the pack with 44 laps to go. Throughout the closing laps, Ankrum wasted no time getting back through the field and settled for a 10th-place finish at Vegas. Tonight’s efforts brought the driver of the No. 18 Chevrolet up to seventh in the NCTS point standings.

Tyler Ankrum Quote:

“Super frustrating to have another race end like it did today. We had an absolute rocket ship of a truck with our No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet, and this team deserved a better finish than we ended up with. Mark and the guys put together such a good truck for us to work with today and we had a really solid points day, but it could have been better. We will pick our heads up, get back to work, and look forward to Homestead.”