Ankrum heads south to unique oval for penultimate race of 2023
Headed South … Tyler Ankrum comes to the southern-most stop on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) for the penultimate round of the 2023 season. The driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro has a fond memories of south Florida as he scored a runner-up finish at HMS in 2020. The result three seasons ago tied his second-best finish in Craftsman Truck Series competition (behind his first-career win in 2019), a feat he looks to replicate with the experience of the No. 16 team behind him.
Ankrum and HRE at Homestead ... HMS holds a special place in the memories of HRE. Hattori Racing Enterprises have won two races at the abrasive, high-banked 1.5-mile oval, which included a championship winning performance with driver Brett Moffitt in 2018. The 16 team followed that up with a dominating effort the following season with driver Austin Hill leading 56 laps en route to a second-straight HMS victory. Ankrum looks to take the momentum gained at Kansas Speedway and looks to parlay that success in South Beach.
Season to Date … Through 21 of 23 events for the 2023 schedule, Ankrum and the No. 16 LiUNA! team occupy the 16th position in the drivers championship standings. Ankrum’s season-best result came 18 races ago at Circuit of the Americas (fourth) and he has posted six finishes of tenth or better in the 2023 season. Currently, Ankrum has one top five, and six top-10's for the 2023 season.
Chassis Selection … Chassis No. 011 will make it’s fourth start of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season at Homestead Miami Speedway. This Toyota Tundra TRD Pro made it's last start at Kansas Speedway, where Ankrum would run around the top-10 most of the day. The No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro crossed the start finish line in the ninth position, Ankrum's sixth top ten of the year.
Tune In … The Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead Miami Speedway will kick off with practice starting on Friday at 4:05 pm ET, however there will be no live TV coverage. Qualifying will follow at 4:35 pm ET on Friday evening. Saturday will start with NASCAR RaceDay at 11 am ET (FS1), then green flag action on Saturday Afternoon at 12:00 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 Homestead:
“Homestead is such a different racetrack than anything else we race on all season. It’s a perfect oval and it’s turned into one of the most abrasive surfaces we race on and puts on really good racing because of that. I always look forward to this track. We had a good run there last year, and a second-place finish in 2020, so I’m excited to see what we can do with our LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro this weekend. The pace really falls off during a fuel run and tire management always comes into play. We should get a good baseline in practice on Friday, and hopefully we can fine-tune on it and put ourselves in the right position for the race on Saturday afternoon.”