Ankrum’s Title Bid in Phoenix Ends with OT Restart
Venue: Phoenix Raceway
FINISH: 14th
Start: 21st
NCTS Point Standings Position: 4th
Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST battled a massive amount of adversity Friday night competing for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) Championship title. The young driver did not have the qualifying run he had hoped for early on in the day which relegated him to start the 150-lap event 21st in line. A quick caution on the start allowed Ankrum to scoop up multiple spots and restart 15th where he held on for the majority of the stage. The driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet reported to his team that he was lacking a lot of rear grip which was hurting him and keeping his run stagnant. After closing Stage One 14th in line, crew chief Mark Hillman called the No. 18 down pit road for a fresh set of Goodyear tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment.
In the opening laps of Stage Two, Ankrum started to fall back and sink into the field. He was battle super free conditions in dirty air and had zero traction on the long run. Not being able to pass or gain any grip, the young driver finished out Stage Two 17th and the team went to work on another round of adjustments. The San Bernardino, Calif. native took four tires, fuel and a handful of adjustments under the stage break and rolled out to start the final stage mid-pack. Another yellow flag fell and Ankrum reported to the team that the adjustments had not helped him one bit. As multiple trucks came down pit road under caution, Hillman (Mark, crew chief) made the call to stay out and gain track position to at least get the No. 18 Chevrolet out of dirty air in hopes of momentum forward.
Chaos started to break out as more cautions rolled out and the field was placed under a red flag hold due to a multi-truck incident. The young driver was still struggling in dirty air with the handling on his race truck and when pit road opened up, the No. 18 team took a chance and came down pit road for his last set of sticker tires, fuel and a major wedge adjustment. The field went green and Ankrum went forward. Gaining multiple spots lap by lap and with just 20 laps to go, the driver of the No. 18 had broke back into the top 10 until a caution with just two laps to go arose and sent the event into NASCAR’s version of overtime. Following the other championship contenders, Ankrum came down pit road for right side tires only and lined up eighth for the restart. Following the sequence of bad luck for the night, the No. 18 Chevrolet went three wide heading into the corner on the restart and was collected.
Hillman (Mark, crew chief) called Ankrum down pit road for damage repair and sent him back out in double overtime to finish the night 14th in line and fourth in the championship point standings for the 2025 NCTS season. Although Friday night’s event did not go as planned, Ankrum gathered his best career season yet and set many sights on many accomplishments that are career highs for the 24-year-old driver.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“We certainly did not have the championship run we were hoping for. The adjustments were just off all night long and nothing we really did throughout the first and second stage helped me in dirty air. That last adjustment we made helped me get going and get back in the fight with the others but we got sandwiched there on that overtime restart and got dragged down with the mess so super proud of this No. 18 team all season long. These guys have given so much effort and hard work into getting us to this point and it is really cool to hit this milestone of making the final four for the first time all together as a team. We will come back next season and hold the bar high to sit in this position again in 2026.”
