Tyler Ankrum maintained his position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings after a 20th-place finish on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS). The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro soldiered on to finish 20th after being collected in a late-race incident and surviving two overtime restarts.
Ankrum took the green flag from the 25th position at CMS and began navigating heavy traffic and dense dirty air. He reported that his Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was tight on the exit of both corners and was scored 22nd at the end of Stage 1 on lap 30.
Crew chief Scott Zipadelli gave Ankrum four tires, fuel, and a left rear wedge adjustment to improve his balance. Another fast pit stop by the HRE team netted Ankrum five positions and allowed him to restart 15th on lap 38. Ankrum ran in the 16th position until another caution flag waved on lap 53 when he returned to pit road for another batch of four tires. A wreck occurred behind Ankrum on the lap 58 restart and put a halt to Stage 2 and had the San Bernardino, Calif. native scored 11th on lap 60.
After restarting 10th on lap 66, Ankrum narrowly escaped disaster after nearly being squeezed in the Turn 3 wall by another competitor’s three-wide maneuver. He recovered in 16th position but continued to fight a tight condition in both corners of the track. He made his scheduled four tire green-flag pit stop on lap 101, but surrendered a lap to the race leader on lap 107. With five laps remaining in the scheduled race distance, Ankrum suffered contact from the No. 02 truck and made contact with the outside wall. He suffered cosmetic damage to the right rear quarter panel and survived two chaotic overtime restarts to take the checkered flag in 20th.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“We weren’t able to get the track position we needed tonight with our LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We got inside the top-10 after our second stop, but nearly got squeezed in the wall off that restart, had to get out of it, and lost a few spots. We just fought tight most of the night and couldn’t quite hit it. Scott (Zipadelli) and the guys kept making adjustments at it on each stop, but it just wasn’t meant to be. We’ll regroup, go over everything, and head to Gateway next weekend.”
HRE PR
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