Richmond Raceway plays hosts to the third short track event of the 2022 season on Saturday night and Tyler Ankrum looks to extend his short track aptitude. The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro has a potent track record in Virginia’s capital with two top-five finishes in as many starts at the three-quarter mile facility. Ankrum and the No. 16 team are fresh off their best result of the season at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) after scoring a sixth-place finish and are in position to be a playoff spoiler on Saturday evening.
Long Short Track Record … In his 84 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, Ankrum has gleaned 13 races worth of short track experience. The 22-year-old has a wealth of familiarity at venues similar to Richmond and has tallied top-10 results at four of the five short tracks at which he’s competed in Camping World Trucks competition, most recently at IRP on July 29th. Prior to entering the tailgating ranks, Ankrum forged his short track experience in the ARCA Menards Series East by winning the championship in 2018, a season that included three short track victories at South Boston Speedway, Thompson Speedway, and Iowa Speedway.
Season to Date … Ankrum continues to hold the 12th spot in the Camping World Trucks point standings after 17 of 23 scheduled events. The San Bernardino, Calif. driver has earned seven top-10 results, with a best finish of sixth at IRP, and owns an average finish of 15.4.
Chassis Selection … HRE’s No. 16 LIUNA team led by crew chief Scott Zipadelli has prepared chassis No. 009 to return to action at Richmond. This Toyota Tundra TRD Pro is coming off a sixth-place result at IRP two weeks ago. Prior to it’s sixth-place finish in Clermont, IN, Ankrum finished 13th behind the wheel of this chassis at World Wide Technology Raceway in June.
Tune In … FOX Sports 1 will carry all on-track activity on Saturday, beginning with practice and qualifying at 3:00 p.m. ET. NASCAR Raceday kicks off race coverage at 7:00 p.m. ET followed by the green flag at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 16 LIUNA team by following @Hattori_Racing on Twitter, @hattoriracing on Instagram, and Hattori Racing Enterprises on Facebook.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
On short track racing at Richmond:
“I’ve loved racing at Richmond the last couple years, and it’s great the Truck Series was brought back there. It’s pretty high speed for a short track, but the pavement has become so abrasive that it can turn into a tire management game pretty quick. We had a great run with our LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pro last time out at IRP, and that place has some similar characteristics to Richmond, so that gives me and our team a lot of confidence that we can continue our performance this weekend. We’ve had a couple top 10’s at the short tracks this year, so I’m looking forward to building on that. Hopefully we can keep our truck well balanced all race and keep the tires under it. If we do that, I think we’ll put ourselves in a great position at the end of the night.”
HRE PR
