Tyler Ankrum moved into the 7th position in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) point standings after his fifth-place result at Homestead Miami Speedway. The driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet Silverado RST came to life during the final segment after a bold pit strategy. Next week Ankrum will have one more opportunity to lock himself into the NCTS “Championship 4”.
Ankrum began his weekend for the Baptist Health 200 with a 33.13 second lap time during qualifying giving him the 15th starting position. Within the first 10 laps, he complained of being too loose on the throttle. While steadying out Ankrum finished Stage 1 on lap 30 in the 16th position. Crew chief Mark Hillman called Ankrum to pit road for the first stop of the day, where the team made a track bar and air pressure adjustment, along with a fresh set of tires and fuel. Ankrum rejoined the field in 13th position as Stage 2 began on lap 38.
Despite early efforts, Ankrum struggled through Turns 1 and 2, and a late flat left-front tire pushed him back to 16th by the end of Stage 2 on lap 60. During the stage caution, the No. 18 returned to pit road for further adjustments, along with four new tires and fuel, in an effort to correct the balance issues. At the start of the final stage, Ankrum faced more handling difficulties, as his truck became too tight. However, when a caution came out on lap 75, Hillman made a strategic decision to bring Ankrum to pit road for his final stop of the day.
A final round of adjustments, a fresh set of rubber and fuel he restarted in the 22nd position when the field went back to green on lap 82. With his new and improved No. 18 Chevrolet, he was able to surge forward and found himself in the seventh position when the green flag pit cycle ended. Ankrum took advantage of others’ fuel issues on the final lap to take the checkered flag in fifth.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
It was very fortunate for us to bring out truck home in the top-five. Something happened between practice and qualifying because from the start of the race we were just not that great. But, Mark made a great call to make a short pit that stage and drove into the top-10. Just overall got to thank my guys for not giving up today, the pit stops were great and because of their effort I was able to recover from what I thought would be a bad day. “
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
