Top Ten effort derailed by late race incident at North Wilkesboro
Tyler Ankrum had a strong run thwarted in the Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday afternoon with a 26th place finish. After consistently running in the top ten for most of the race, Ankrum was collected in a multi-truck incident which severely wounded the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. On what would be his 100th career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start, the San Bernardino, Calif. native fought a tight handling truck most of the afternoon. Ankrum currently sits 15th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings after ten events.
Ankrum posted the 17th-fastest time in qualifying on Saturday afternoon and took the green flag from the outside of row eight. In the opening laps, Ankrum reported a tight condition which hampered his ability to advance forward. Stage one would see a caution with 50 laps remaining; Crew chief Doug Randolph brought the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro down pit road for tires and an adjustment. After another short run, crew chief Doug Randolph brought Ankrum to pit road again prior to the stage caution where the LiUNA! pit crew ripped off a blistering pit stop that netted Ankrum two positions.This would prove beneficial for Ankrum as he would slowly pick off a competitor one by one and finish stage 1 in the tenth position.
Ankrum would stay out at the end of stage 1 to gain some track position on a day where passing was at a premium. A long green flag run ensued where crew chief Doug Randolph and spotter Eddie D'Hont would preach tire conservation throughout the segment. This proved to be valuable coaching as Ankrum would surge through the long green flag run and was running in the seventh position when another late stage caution came out. After another round of pit stops, Ankrum would once again finish P10 in stage two.
Ankrum would stick around the top ten to start stage three. Another short run would bring the No. 16 down pit road for a fresh set of Goodyear tires. Ankrum would lose a couple spots on pit road due to being blocked into his pit stall by a competitor pitting in front of him. Ankrum would restart P13; another short run would see the No. 16 pick up a few spots and knock on the door of the top ten in P11. Unfortunately, Ankrum would be collected in a multi-truck incident which would severely wound the LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. After losing multiple laps trying to fix the damage, Ankrum would limp to the finish P26.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“This one was pretty frustrating at the end of the day. I felt like we had great performance out of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Doug and the crew brought me a great race truck that got caught up in someone else's issues. I felt like we had the pace to be there at the end. Tire fall off was huge today and it was all about managing your tires, which I thought we were doing a great job at midway through the race. We will come back even stronger for Charlotte next week."