Tyler Ankrum was relegated to a 28th-place finish at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) due to being involved in a late-race melee after being on the doorstep of victory. The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro led twice for four laps and mounted a furious charge for the race win in the closing laps before the multi-truck incident occurred.
Ankrum’s fourth-fastest lap in round two of qualifying was the best effort on a superspeedway in HRE’s history. The 2019 Rookie of the Year fought valiantly on the outside lane during the caution free opening stage despite insufficient drafting help, yet managed to collect one point in 10th position at the end of Stage 1 on lap 20.
Zipadelli and the LIUNA team supplied Ankrum with fuel and a chassis adjustment to combat a loose handling condition under the stage caution and restarted 10th on lap 27. The abbreviated 14-lap Stage 2 saw Ankrum aggressively draft up the outside lane and worked it to perfection. The San Bernardino, CA native took the race lead on lap 36 before getting aero loose on lap 38 and drifting back to seventh. Ankrum held serve in seventh position to pocket four points at the end of Stage 2 on lap 40.
After restarting ninth on lap 47, Ankrum fell into an orderly single-file draft and cemented his position inside the top-10 during the middle portion of the event. A caution on lap 64 allowed Ankrum to take on a final load of fuel and restarted fourth on lap 67. On lap 69, Ankrum retook the lead but was shuffled to the rear of the lead pack shortly thereafter. The final 25 laps of regulation saw him mount a swift and calculated march back towards the front and took the runner-up position by lap 98. Ankrum made a three-wide bid for the lead coming to the white flag but wound up being collected in a 17-truck accident which ended his evening. He sits 25th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings after the opening event, just 15 markers out of 10th.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“It felt like I got a really good push from the No. 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) and I don’t know if it was the No. 99 (Ben Rhodes) or No. 98 (Christian Eckes) in front of me but I was going to take him three-wide to the top. I just got really loose. It’s so hard. We were all pushing so hard. It was coming to one to go. It sucks, but our LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was really quick tonight so I’m really happy with that. Happy to be with a new team and Toyota and I’m ready to go pound the ground for the rest of the season.”
Hattori Racing Enterprises PR
