RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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McAnally-Hilgeman Racing’s Tyler Ankrum didn’t have the race he desired, but he still got his desired outcome.
Layne Riggs won the race, scoring his series leading sixth victory on the season. Riggs didn’t win either of the stages, as those stage wins went to Spire Motorsports’ Connor Zilisch. In addition to winning stages one and two, the Cup Series regular led 55 laps as well. While these two driver had impressive runs, most eyes were following the intense points battle between Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, and Jake Garcia.
Coming into the race, Ankrum held a 20 point lead over both Friesen and Garcia, however that lead dissipated from the drop of the green flag. Very quickly in stage one, Ankrum battled brake issues and ran outside the top 20 for most of the day. While he struggled, both Garcia and Friesen chipped away at his points gap, as they gained track position throughout the race through strategy.
As the laps were winding down, the battle between the three drivers was within a singular point. It seemed like each lap, everyone was unsure on who was going to win. Then with 6 laps to go, everything changed. Tricon Racing’s Gavan Boschele lost control of his truck entering turn one. From there, chaos ensued.
Before the first overtime attempt, things were looking bleak. Ankrum was running in 27th, but crew chief Mark Hillman elected to stay out on the race track, while many cars came down pit road. This move put Ankrum inside the top 20, and gained him ten points over the other two competitors.
When the race resumed, Tyler almost saw his season come to an end. Boschele’s teammate second place Gio Ruggiero spun around in front of the field, collecting Connor Mosack, and others. Ankrum narrowly avoided this incident, as he came within inches of nailing the aforementioned Ruggiero. In the end, the #18 team was able to close things out, holding on by seven points.
Tyler spoke to Fox Sports’ Amanda Busick after the race where he expressed his displeasure with his day. “I’m not happy”, said Ankrum. The team’s inability to fix their brake issues all day made the drive “extremely difficult”. Ankrum said his spotter Eddie D’hondt was very helpful, advising him to adjust the brake biases’ throughout the race. He was in 27th and thought it was over. He mentioned the team got lucky, and that they did not look like a “Chase team” today.
With Ankrum clinching a Chase spot, he joins teammates Christian Eckes, and Daniel Hemric as drivers who will compete for a championship over these final seven races of the season.
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