Short Track Saturday Night for Ankrum as Playoffs Loom
The Final Countdown … Richmond Raceway plays hosts to the third short track event of the 2023 season on Saturday night and Tyler Ankrum looks to capitalize on his short track prowess. With one race remaining to make the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs, the driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro looks to build momentum off a top ten performance in his last outing. Ankrum currently resides 14th in the championship standings and hopes that his past success at the tricky triangle translates to a third playoff birth.
History at Richmond ... Ankrum has a great track record at the three quarter mile short track in Richmond Virginia. In his past three starts, Ankrum has two top five and two top ten finishes at Richmond Raceway. Hattori Racing Enterprises has also found success at the unique three quarter mile track; HRE has amassed one pole, two top-five finishes, and four top-ten finishes at the track.
Season to Date … Through 15 of 16 regular season events, Ankrum and the No. 16 LiUNA! team occupy the 14th position in the drivers championship standings, 71 markers behind the cut line. Ankrum’s season-best result came 12 races ago at Circuit of the Americas (fourth) and he has posted five finishes of tenth or better in the 2023 season.
Chassis Selection … Chassis No. 009 will make it’s third start of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season at Richmond Raceway. This Toyota Tundra TRD Pro made it's last start at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where Ankrum would run around the top-10 most of the day. Unfortunately, after some late race damage would be relegated to a 26th place finish.
Tune In … Fox Sports 1 has complete coverage of the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway starting with coverage on Saturday at 7:00 pm ET with NASCAR Race Day (FS1), followed by the green flag on Saturday night at 7:30 pm ET (FS1). 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 Richmond Raceway:
“I’ve loved racing at Richmond the last couple years, and I’ve enjoyed some decent success 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 haven't had the best luck so far this year at the short tracks, but we had a great run going at North Wilkesboro that was cut short. 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. I’m really excited to have so many of my LiUNA! brothers and sisters at the track again this weekend to cheer me on, and hopefully we can get into the playoffs with a win.”