“Lot of things went my way”: Tyler Ankrum secures final four ticket despite ‘bad’ pitstop and ‘worsening’ Truck at every heat cycle

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Tyler Ankrum clinched his first-ever spot in the Championship Four race this season. After wrapping up the Slim Jim 200 held at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, October 24, he was featured in an interview with stock car analyst Bob Pockrass. During the post-race interaction, Ankrum recalled the challenges he faced during the 200-lap race.

The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver qualified sixth for the 105.2-mile main event. He completed the 0.526-mile track lap in 19.64 seconds and reached a top speed of 96.43 mph. Following a good pace, Ankrum moved up two spots and wrapped up stage one in fourth place. Then he secured a P6 finish in stage two of the race.

However, Tyler Ankrum witnessed a pit stop blunder during the final stage of the race. The #18 Chevy driver pitted while the yellow flag was out and suffered a pit stop mishap, costing him valuable positions. Additionally, his truck struggled during the heat cycles in the Martinsville race. Reflecting on the same, the Truck Series driver told NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass [00:14]:

"I really don't know, honestly, you know, with heat cycles, our truck was not great. Our truck was really good on the long run, as long as, like, we got less and fewer if you're in caution. My truck is good, but with every heat cycle, we just got worse, and then we had that bad pit stop to send us all back to 22nd or 23rd, I forget. And it was just a slump to get back there; we had a couple really good restarts. So a lot of things went my way tonight for us in final four."

Despite all the challenges, Tyler Ankrum finished the 200-lap race in ninth place and secured a spot in the Championship Four race at Phoenix Raceway scheduled for October 31. Alongside Ankrum, Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, and Kaden Honeycutt are locked in for the title race.

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"You start to think you might not be able to do it again": Tyler Ankrum got candid about his maiden win in six years

The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver, Tyler Ankrum, has been on a winless streak for the past six years. He broke the dry spell this season in April at Rockingham Speedway and won the Black's Tire 200, making it his first win in six years.

The #18 Chevy driver qualified 16th for the main event with a best lap time of 22.50 seconds and a top speed of 150.43 mph. Meanwhile, Jake Garcia was 0.45 seconds ahead of Ankrum and took the pole. However, the Chevy driver did not have a smooth run. He made contact with the walls and finished both stages out of the top 20 drivers on the grid.

Tyler Ankrum made a comeback and took the lead with 30 laps to go in the 200-lap race. He then led 29 laps and crossed the finish line 6.657 seconds ahead of Jake Garcia. Reflecting on the same, the #18 driver told the press:

"You know, you don't do it for so long, you start to think you might not be able to do it again... It's hard, you know. I was told as a kid that the easy part is getting bucked off; the hard part is getting back on. I think this is us finalizing us getting back on, so I just can't thank everyone enough." (via SiriusXM)

Tyler Ankrum ranks fourth in the Craftsman Truck Series points table with 4000 points. He has logged one win, 15 top tens, and eight top fives in 24 starts this season. Additionally, he has led 102 laps with an average finish of 10.667.

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Edited by Karan Yadav