Ankrum Locks In for Short Track Rally at N. Wilkesboro
Venue: North Wilkesboro Speedway
Event: Faith Fest 250
Date: Saturday, July 18th
Location: North Wilkesboro, NC
Track Description: 0.625-mile short track
Distance: 250 laps, 156.25 miles (12:30 p.m. EST, FS1, SiriusXM)
Left Turns Only … Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST is putting the road courses behind him and moving forward to what is up next; North Wilkesboro Speedway (NWB). The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) heads just up the road to the historic 0.625-mile oval short track for the third run since the industry return in 2023. The young driver has tallied one top-five and two top-10 results at oval track with a best coming last season in 2025 with a third-place podium finish. The No. 18 crew looks to up that performance and curate another stellar run at NWB this Saturday afternoon for the Faith Fest 250.
Short Track Racin’ … With over 35 career starts on tracks measuring under one mile in length, Ankrum has shown his ability to show up and show out. Tallying one victory (Rockingham, 2025), nine top-five and 17 top-10 finishes, the San Bernardino, Calif. native is ready to get back to the short track scene this weekend at NWB. Crew chief Mark Hillman is confident in turning the teams stale luck around with the short track race package they are bringing to the table this weekend.
Spoiler Highlights … Tyler Ankrum and the No. 18 team are excited to welcome aboard LIUNA local contractor Precision Pipeline to adorn the left-side spoiler of the No. 18 Chevrolet Silverado for the NCTS event at NWB this Saturday afternoon. Precision Pipeline, LLC, (PPL) was founded in 2004 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by Steve Rooney and Dan Murphy. PPL was established on the principle of meeting the needs of clients while maintaining a focus on safety, quality and environmental compliance with minimal impact to landowners; and this core value is still strong in their company culture. In 2009, PPL joined the MasTec Inc. infrastructure construction family as its premier oil and gas service line. This partnership has allowed PPL to focus on growth and development with the ability to complete construction on both large mainline projects and smaller infrastructure projects.
Tune In …Television coverage on the Faith Fest 250 will begin Friday afternoon with practice and qualifying starting at 2:00 PM ET on FS2 and will resume with the wave of the green flag o Saturday at 12:30 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:
“I am super thankful the road courses have come to an end this season, that is for sure. It has been a disappointing start to the season but we are headed back to a short track where I am always ready to get out there and get rolling. North Wilkesboro has been so good to us in the past and it is such a fun track to race at. Looking forward to it this weekend and hopefully we can be in contention for a solid finish this weekend.”