Ankrum Looks to Make a Hit in Nashville

Make a Hit in Nashville … Tyler Ankrum is looking to make a big hit on Friday night in “Music City” at Nashville Superspeedway as he makes a push for the playoffs. With three races remaining to make the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, the driver of the No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota Tundra TRD is heating up and enters Nashville on the strength of two consecutive top-10 finishes and three straight results of 13th or better. That stretch also includes a performance at Sonoma Raceway that netted him his highest single race point total of the season (37 points).
 
Rising Tide … A rising tide lifts all ships, and the Californian wheelman hopes the recent run in the month of June can lift he and the No. 16 LIUNA team into playoff contention. Ankrum enters his second appearance at Nashville Superspeedway with consecutive top-10’s at his back for the second time this season, and into a venue where crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the No. 16 team earned a ninth-place finish and 37 points in 2021, the third-most in the event. A duplicate performance could inch Ankrum closer to his third playoff berth and the fifth-straight for HRE.
 
Season to Date … After 13 of 16 regular season races, Ankrum remains within reach of the playoff cutline, 53 markers behind 10th position. Ankrum has compiled five top-10 results, and is positioned 14th in the drivers’ championship standings.
 
Chassis Selection … Zipadelli and the HRE team have prepared chassis No. 008 for the fourth time this season. Ankrum most recently raced inside the top-10 at Texas Motor Speedway with this chassis before an overheating issue ended his evening prematurely. This Toyota Tundra TRD Pro scored its best finish of the season at Darlington Raceway in May with a ninth-place result.
 
Tune In … FOX Sports 1 will have wall-to-wall coverage from “Music City” on Friday, beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET with practice and qualifying. “NASCAR Raceday” sets the stage at 7:30 p.m. ET for the green flag at 8:00 p.m. ET. 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 bringing momentum to Nashville:
“We’ve had really LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pros the last few races, and I think we can continue that this week at Nashville. We’ve been solidly gaining some momentum over the last few weeks, and we need to keep that going to try and get ourselves a playoff spot. Track position was huge last year at Nashville, and it’ll probably be the same way again this week. A good qualifying run could help us get some early stage points and hopefully we can keep ourselves in the right position to be in contention in the final stage.”
 
HRE PR