Top-10 at Talladega Pads Ankrum’s Playoff Cushion
Venue: Talladega Superspeedway
FINISH: 6th
Start: 8th
Stage One: 7th
Stage Two: 7th
NCTS Point Standings Position: 3rd
Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST was poised for a stellar finish in the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega superspeedway after a hot qualifying lap sent him onto the second round where he placed his No. 18 Chevrolet eighth in line to start the 85-lap event. A quick caution in the opening laps led Ankrum to report to his team that he was building a little tight on the first run. The team stayed out through a flurry of cautions and settled for a seventh-place Stage One finish, gaining four valuable stage points. The young driver had zero complaints about his race truck so crew chief Mark Hillman called for fuel only on their pit stop, leaving Ankrum to restart Stage Two 17th in line after the pit cycle early on.
The driver of the No. 18 Chevrolet wasted no time on his charge to the front as he was up to 13th on the restart and continued on to reach back inside the top 10 where he remained. Another yellow flag fell with just nine laps to go in Stage Two but the young driver stayed out to gain four more precious stage points and finish the stage in seventh. Ankrum reported to his team that he felt a little at the end. Hillman (Mark, crew chief) gave him a slight air pressure adjustment for his pit stop with four fresh tires and some Sunoco race fuel. Restarting the final stage on the bottom in 11th, the San Bernardino, Calif. native settled in with focus forward and with just 36 laps remaining, he had moved up to seventh. Green flag pit stops started to cycle through and with 29 laps to go, Ankrum came down pit road to top-off on fuel and continue his charge to the finish.
More chaos started to arise as the laps were dwindling down. Under caution, the young driver felt he was starting to lose a lot of rear grip. Following the playoff field, the No. 18 came down pit road for a fresh set of Goodyear tires and fuel to set him up for a solid finish with 20 laps to go. Ankrum had cruised back into the top 10 with five laps to go and a yellow flag fell shortly after, coming to the white flag and sending the field into NASCAR’s version of overtime. Staying in line until the finish, Ankrum powered through to a sixth-place finish at Talladega where he now sits third in points at eight points above the cutline, heading into the championship cutoff race at Martinsville.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“Solid day for this No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet race team. Proud of these guys and the effort they put in to get us this far and stay in contention for the chance to compete for the championship here in two weeks. Had a pretty good truck all day long, great points day and really no complaints for the day. Coming out with a clean truck is also a super big win here at Talladega so we will continue on to Martinsville and hopefully we can have a good race and stay in it long enough to make the final four.”
