Playoff Time… Tyler Ankrum heads to The Milwaukee Mile and the LIUNA 175 for the first race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) playoffs. The driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST capped off his regular season campaign at Richmond Raceway by scoring his eighth top-10 result, and earned his fifth-consecutive top-10 finish on a short track. Ankrum will begin his third career NCTS playoff run at Milwaukee by joining his MHR teammates Christian Eckes and Daniel Dye in the title quest.
Career Playoff Stats… The Californian secured his first playoff berth in 2019 after scoring his first-career win at Kentucky Speedway. His second and most recent playoff appearance in 2020 came on the strength of consistency and qualified based on points. Ankrum begins his third shot at a title run with his second-career start in the “Badger State” and looks to extend his recent hot streak. The Californian capped the regular season with three finishes of sixth-or-better in the final four races. Ankrum scored 34 points or more in all four events, and a similar effort on Sunday in Milwaukee would jumpstart his playoff campaign.
2024 Regular Season Stats… Ankrum finished the regular season sixth in the NCTS drivers’ standings and earned five extra playoff points. He has earned the fourth-most stage points of all NCTS drivers this season, due in part to vastly improved qualifying efforts. His average starting position this year is 13.7, over six positions better than 2023. Ankrum qualified 12th or better in 11 of the 16 regular season events with a season-best second-place qualifying effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He also has improved his average finish from last season to 13.7, over five spots higher than a year ago. Ankrum has totaled two stage wins, a career-high five top-five’s, and eight top-10 finishes. He begins the playoffs seventh in the standings, five points above the provisional cut line.
Tune In …Coverage from Milwaukee begins with the green flag Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Stay connected with the No. 18 LIUNA team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
On beginning the playoffs at Milwaukee:
“I’m super excited to get the playoffs started. Our team brought really fast LIUNA Chevrolets throughout the regular season and I’m confident we’ll keep that going over these last seven races. We had a couple bumps in the road in the midway point of the season but, we were able to bounce back and get ourselves locked in. I’m excited to get back to Milwaukee this weekend. There’s over 1200 LIUNA members coming out on Sunday and I couldn’t be more thankful for the support. I’m proud to represent them and have their truck back in the playoffs where it belongs. It’d be nice to take that LIUNA 175 trophy back to them too and start the playoffs in a big way.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
