Ankrum's day cut short at Talladega
On an absolute picturesque day at Talladega Superspeedway, Tyler Ankrum would finish 33rd after an incident midway through stage two. Ankrum was beginning to surge to the front knocking on the door of the top-10 when another truck contacted his right rear quarter panel, forcing his truck into the outside wall. The damage sustained would end his day early. Ankrum currently sits in the 16th position in the driver standings with two races to go in the 2023 season.
An early Saturday morning would see Ankrum at the LiUNA! team would wait until midway through the qualifying session to make their attempt at the pole for the Love’s RV Stop 250. Once Ankrum hit the track, he would time in 22nd on the speed charts. Ankrum reported that he liked the overall balance of his truck in the very short time he was on track. Ankrum would start the Love’s Travel Stop 250 from the outside or row 11.
Only a few laps into the race, Ankrum would settle in behind the main pack. He reported that his LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was running a little hot. He was able to manage this condition until the end of the first stage where he finished 23rd. Ankrum would bring his LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro down pit road to get four fresh tires and to try and remedy the overheating issues. He would return to the field after topping off in the 27th position. On lap 39, Ankrum would be involved in an incident on the backstretch which would see him bring his truck down pit road with minimal damage. The LiUNA! crew would change four tires and send him back out onto the track.
Luck would not be on Ankrum’s side in the second stage. On lap 51, Ankrum would get hooked in the right rear and made hard contact with the front of his Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. The damage sustained from the crash would end his day prematurely and have a result of 33rd on the day.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“This one was just super frustrating, we had some issues on our end trying to keep our LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We stuck to the strategy to just hang out for the first stage, we were making our way up through the field in the second stage where we were just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. That second and third lane can get tricky, people would duck out and try to get a third lane working, but it never really worked out. On our end it looked like someone got a bad push and got hooked. Love it or hate it, that’s speedway racing."