Tyler Ankrum earned a 16th-place finish on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) and moved to 17th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings after two races. The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro fought through both loose and tight conditions throughout the evening to gain eight positions in the driver championship standings.
Ankrum posted a 30.69 second lap in qualifying which placed him 14th on the starting grid, his best starting position at LVMS in two seasons. The San Bernardino, CA native fought the effects from turbulent air for much of the evening and fired off too free at the beginning of the event. Ankrum ran inside the top 15 before crew chief Scott Zipadelli called him to pit road for fresh tires, fuel, and chassis adjustments under a lap 22 caution. He finished Stage 1 in 16th position on lap 30 and restarted 14th on lap 38 as others elected to pit under the stage caution.
During the abbreviated green flag run in Stage 2, Ankrum fought a loose condition on corner entry and a tight balance on corner exit. Ankrum held position inside the top-15 until putting on lap 56. The trustworthy LIUNA team suffered an untimely air gun malfunction during the stop and caused Ankrum to restart 25th on lap 60. In the one lap finish to Stage 2, Ankrum picked up three positions to run 22nd at the end of the stage.
Zipadelli’s short-pit strategy on lap 56 allowed Ankrum to restart 13th on lap 67. Ankrum maintained his position for the next 20-plus laps until a pit stop on lap 90 when he advanced to 12th. Shortly after a restart on lap 95, Ankrum pitted for a potential tire issue under caution on lap 97 and was relegated to 25th position. The California-native worked his way back into the top-20 and contended for a position inside the top-15 over the final three restarts and took the checkered flag in 17th. Due to a disqualification in post-race technical inspection, Ankrum was credited with a 16th-place finish.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“Certainly not the result that we wanted with our LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, but I appreciate this team digging all night and making adjustments throughout the race. We didn’t have the track position we needed tonight to get a good read on the balance and seemed like we had to fight through a lot of dirty air most of the night. We’ll go to Atlanta in a couple weeks and try to our Toyota Tundra TRD Pro dialed in and start some positive momentum.”
HRE PR
