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Ankrum’s Patience Rewarded with Truck Series Win at Rockingham
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

They say that good things come to those who wait. For Tyler Ankrum, the wait consisted of a 130-race winless streak with a bit of adversity thrown in. Finally, the wait is over, and his patience has paid off with a trip to Victory Lane at Rockingham.

Ankrum won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway Friday night, but it wasn’t easy.

After being involved in an accident on Lap 2, he was a lap down. But during the break for Stage 2 on Lap 90, he was once again on the lead lap.

Ankrum methodically made his way back to the front, took the lead on Lap 172, and never looked back. He attributed the win to fuel strategy.

“Just saving fuel, man”, he said. “I knew we were five (laps) short, and I was hoping I had saved enough, and we did.

“I just found something there where I was pretty much lifting 60 percent down the straightaway,. And, I was able to draft off of (Matt) Crafton and a couple of other guys, and I was able to save that way.

“It’s just surreal,” he continued. “I feel like this is pretty much the way it went down at Kentucky (his previous win) in 2019.”

Ankrum also received a $50,000 bonus check for winning the final race of the Triple Truck Challenge.

Jake Garcia finished second, Daniel Hemric third, Rajah Caruth fourth, and Grant Enfinger finished fifth, followed by Kaden Honeycutt, Jack Wood, Corey Heim, Connor Mosack, and Gio Ruggiero to complete the top 10.

After Rockingham, Corey Heim leads in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings by 22 points over Chandler Smith, 62 points over Tyler Ankrum, 73 points over Daniel Hemric, and 80 points over Layne Riggs.

The Truck Series returns to competition on May 2nd at Texas Motor Speedway for the SpeedyCash.com 250. You can tune in on FS1 to watch the race with radio coverage provided by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Race Results

Pos St No Driver S1 S2 S3 Points Status
1 16 18 Tyler Ankrum 0 0 0 40 Running
2 1 13 Jake Garcia 2 3 0 52 Running
3 17 19 Daniel Hemric 0 0 0 34 Running
4 21 71 Rajah Caruth 0 0 0 33 Running
5 19 9 Grant Enfinger 0 7 0 36 Running
6 7 45 Kaden Honeycutt 3 2 0 48 Running
7 24 91 Jack Wood 0 0 0 30 Running
8 15 11 Corey Heim 5 5 0 42 Running
9 4 81 Connor Mosack # 0 0 0 28 Running
10 8 17 Giovanni Ruggiero # 6 8 0 35 Running
11 5 34 Layne Riggs 1 1 0 46 Running
12 14 77 Andres Perez De Lara # 0 0 0 25 Running
13 2 38 Chandler Smith 4 4 0 38 Running
14 28 2 Nathan Byrd 0 0 0 23 Running
15 31 76 Spencer Boyd 0 0 0 22 Running
16 11 7 Sammy Smith(i) 9 0 0 0 Running
17 29 1 Brandon Jones(i) 0 0 0 0 Running
18 27 5 Toni Breidinger # 0 0 0 19 Running
19 25 26 Dawson Sutton # 0 0 0 18 Running
20 6 44 Bayley Currey 0 0 0 17 Running
21 26 56 Timmy Hill 0 0 0 16 Running
22 18 7 Corey Day(i) 0 0 0 0 Running
23 30 33 Frankie Muniz # 0 0 0 14 Running
24 23 88 Matt Crafton 0 0 0 13 Running
25 22 75 Parker Kligerman 0 9 0 14 Suspension
26 12 66 Luke Fenhaus 10 0 0 12 Engine
27 35 22 Cody Dennison 0 0 0 10 Running
28 10 15 Tanner Gray 8 10 0 13 Accident
29 20 52 Stewart Friesen 0 0 0 8 Accident
30 13 42 Matt Mills 0 0 0 7 Accident
31 9 98 Ty Majeski 7 6 0 15 Accident
32 3 99 Ben Rhodes 0 0 0 5 Steering
33 33 2 Stephen Mallozzi 0 0 0 4 Suspension
34 32 90 Justin Carroll 0 0 0 3 Too Slow
35 34 6 Norm Benning 0 0 0 2 Too Slow

This article first appeared on SpeedwayMedia.com and was syndicated with permission.

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