Ankrum Fights Through Adversity to Finish 12th at Charlotte

Venue: Charlotte Motor Speedway

FINISH: 12th

Start: 23rd

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 4th

Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST battled through adversity all day Friday in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS), series of events to turn his 23rd-place qualifying run into a 12th-place result at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Starting in the back of the pack, Ankrum struggled to gain track position in the opening stage as he reported to his team with 10 laps to go that he was super tight all around but mainly with the right front on exit. This relegated the young driver to a 20th-place Stage One finish. Crew chief Mark Hillman called the No. 18 Chevrolet down pit road under the stage break for four tires, fuel and a slight trackbar and air pressure adjustment to help free up that No. 18 race truck. 

Restarting in 16th, the young driver was able to hold position mid pack and have a quiet Stage Two run which resulted in a 13th-place Stage Two effort. Under yellow, the San Bernardino, Calif. native reported he was still battling tight conditions and was really struggling on the restarts. The driver of the No. 18 came down pit road for four tires and fuel but an unfortunate issue with the tire gun forced Ankrum to a longer stop than the team would have preferred and lost multiple spots on pit road to restart the final laps of the night, 20th. 

Chaos continued to break out as a multi-car incident arose on the opening lap of the final stage and Ankrum was able to dodge the mess and come away clean, allowing him to gain those spots back to put him 15th in line for the restart with 58 laps remaining in the 134-lap Friday night event. Soon after, the field started to roll in for their final pit stops of the night. On lap 134, the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet came down pit road under green for his last set of four fresh Goodyear tires and a top off on Sunoco race fuel. As the pit cycle rolled through, with 10 laps to go, Ankrum was back up to 16th and continued his climb to a 12th-place finish at Charlotte. 

Tyler Ankrum Quote:

“Man, tonight was tough. It is always a challenge starting towards the back and I really needed a better qualifying run to get us to where we could fight harder up front. I was super tight all night long and just could not get the adjustments to where I needed them to be to get to the front of the field and then we had that fluke pit stop and set us back even more. Proud of these guys for the effort to get us a 12th-place result out of tonight but we have to be better. Looking forward to Nashville next week so we will fix our mistakes and head to Music City.”