Tyler Ankrum continued his ascent in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) with a season best 11th-place finish. The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro gained another five positions in the championship standings thanks to his best finish at AMS and earning 33 points, 10th-most among all drivers in the field.
Ankrum began Saturday by setting the fastest lap in practice on AMS’ new configuration with a time of 30.52 seconds. He started the 135-lap event from 10th position and immediately went forward at the drop of the green flag. Drafting immediately came into play as pack racing developed in the opening lap when Ankrum advanced from 10th to fourth. Ankrum consistently ran inside the top-10 during the opening stage, as a dominant single-file draft formed on the outside of the speedway. The entire 30-lap distance of Stage 1 ran caution free and Ankrum earned one point while running 10th on lap 30.
Crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the LIUNA team gave Ankrum two right side tires, an air pressure adjustment, and fuel under the lap 31 caution. He restarted 18th on lap 38 after a variety of pit strategies began to unfurl. A caution flew on lap 50 after the San Bernardino, Calif. wheelman had advanced to 10th, and allowed him to select the bottom lane for the ensuing restart on lap 56. A five-lap dash to the Stage 2 finish saw Ankrum hold his top-five position while aggressively utilizing the bottom groove and earn six points in fifth at lap 60.
Ankrum pitted for the second time under the Stage 2 caution for left side tires and fuel. He restarted eighth on lap 67, but three cautions over the next 23 laps would significantly slow the race pace. During one of those yellows on lap 80, Ankrum pitted for the final time for four tires and a full tank of fuel. The pit strategy netted Ankrum 20th position but equipped him with fresh tires to maneuver his way back into contention. Over the final 29-lap green flag run to the finish, he methodically picked his way into the top-10 and made a stunning move into the top-five on lap 113. Ankrum charged from 13th to fifth in one lap on the bottom lane, but a hole to merge into the dominant outside lane wasn’t available and was shuffled to 12th. He managed to gain one additional position in the closing laps to post an 11th-place finish, he best result in three starts at AMS.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“The truck handled really good. It raced kind of how we thought, more like a Michigan or Daytona. It was a really hectic race, even though there was a lot of single file racing on the top lane. We worked really hard on pit strategy and to have a truck that was able to maneuver well in the pack. I think we got up to about fifth or sixth. We got on the splitter in turns three and four coming to the checkers, got really tight, and wound-up finishing 11th. It was a good learning day. We’re making progress getting better and better every week. I can’t thank LIUNA and all the guys at HRE enough for the effort they put into our trucks.”
HRE PR
