April 18, 2025 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Tyler Ankrum prevails in NASCAR Trucks at Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — It had been so long since Tyler Ankrum won his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race that the driver of the No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet couldn’t find Victory Lane after winning Friday’s Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway.

After a prodigious effort at saving fuel, Ankrum coasted across the finish line 6.657 seconds ahead of pole winner and runner-up Jake Garcia to break a 130-race drought dating to July 11, 2019.

Ankrum’s last win was so long ago that the track that gave him his maiden victory — Kentucky Speedway — has long since fallen off the NASCAR national series schedule.

In the series’ return to “The Rock” after an 11-year absence, Ankrum had to battle back from damage sustained during an accident on Lap 2, an incident that put him a lap down. Ankrum got his lap back as the beneficiary under caution for Stage 2 break after Lap 90 and embarked on a heroic drive to the front.

The trophy wasn’t the only reward Ankrum got for the victory. He also earned a $50,000 check for winning the final Triple Truck Challenge race.

“It’s strange — I didn’t know where Victory Lane was at,” Ankrum said after climbing from his truck. “The way this day started, going a lap down and (crew chief) Mark (Hillman) making a pit call to get the track position back…

“Just saving fuel, man. I knew we were five (laps) short. 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. I feel like this is pretty much the way it went down at Kentucky in 2019.”

Ankrum took the lead for good on Lap 172 after Corey Heim and Gio Ruggiero came to pit road. The two TRICON Garage drivers stayed on the track during consecutive cautions early in the final stage and were running 1-2 before having to come to pit road for fuel.

Heim seemed confused by the strategy that kept him on the track while other top contenders pitted for the fuel they hoped would carry them to the end of the race.

“I felt like if we had the track position we would have been in really good shape from the very start,” said Heim, who started 15th and finished eighth. “Just didn’t have a good qualifying effort on my end. It was kind of an uphill battle from there all day.

“I didn’t exactly know what happened there the last 40 laps there, but we pitted, and it seems like some of the other guys didn’t run of fuel. Unfortunate. Just a weird deal in that last stage but have to be better on my part to qualify better and have the track position.”

Even though the Front Row Motorsports Fords of Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith pitted after Heim’s final stop, both ran short of fuel and had to bring their trucks to pit road in the closing laps.

Daniel Hemric, Rajah Caruth and Grant Enfinger benefited from the Fords’ gas shortage, finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Trouble continued to follow reigning series champion Ty Majeski, whose truck broke loose from the inside lane in Turn 1 while he was racing Enfinger on Lap 109. Majeski’s No. 98 ThorSport Ford backed into the outside wall and was eliminated from the race. He finished 31st after a 13th-place run at Martinsville and a 33rd-place result at Bristol in the previous two races.

“I can’t really blame Grant,” Majeski said. “He held me tight, obviously took the air off my right side. Yeah, just embarrassed, honestly. These last three weeks isn’t who I am as a driver. I feel so bad for everybody at ThorSport—(owners) Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) — yeah, I just need to be better.”

Heim, who led a race-high 52 laps compared to 43 for Garcia and 29 for Ankrum, held the top spot in the series standings by 22 points over Chandler Smith and 62 points over Ankrum in third. Kaden Honeycutt, Jack Wood, Corey Heim, Connor Mosack and Gio Ruggiero finished sixth through 10th, respectively, in Saturday’s race.



NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 7
Race Results for the Black?s Tire 200 - Friday, April 18, 2025
Rockingham Speedway - Rockingham, NC - 0.94 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 188. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 4/18/2025 @ 07:46 PM Eastern

Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 16 18 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Chevrolet 200   40 Running 1 29 5
2 1 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 200 2 3 52 Running 1 43
3 17 19 Daniel Hemric NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 200   34 Running 1 1
4 21 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 200   33 Running  
5 19 9 Grant Enfinger Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 200  7 36 Running 1 15
6 7 45 Kaden Honeycutt DQS/Masked Owl Technologies Chevrolet 200 3 2 48 Running 2 12
7 24 91 Jack Wood Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet 200   30 Running  
8 15 11 Corey Heim Safelite Toyota 199 5 5 42 Running 1 52
9 4 81 Connor Mosack # Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet 199   28 Running  
10 8 17 Giovanni Ruggiero # First Auto Group Toyota 199 6 8 35 Running 1 1
11 5 34 Layne Riggs Bare Knuckle Brawl Ford 199 1 1 46 Running 2 24 2
12 14 77 Andres Perez De Lara # Telcel Chevrolet 199   25 Running  
13 2 38 Chandler Smith QuickTie Ford 199 4 4 38 Running 2 23
14 28 02 Nathan Byrd Hopegivers International Chevrolet 198   23 Running  
15 31 76 Spencer Boyd Freedom Warranty Chevrolet 198   22 Running  
16 11 07 Sammy Smith(i) Gainbridge Chevrolet 197 9  0 Running  
17 29 1 Brandon Jones(i) Grandpa Gus's Toyota 196   0 Running  
18 27 5 Toni Breidinger # Raising Cane's Toyota 196   19 Running  
19 25 26 Dawson Sutton # Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 196   18 Running  
20 6 44 Bayley Currey Masked Owl Technologies/DQS Chevrolet 195   17 Running  
21 26 56 Timmy Hill Coble Enterprises/UNITS Toyota 195   16 Running  
22 18 7 Corey Day(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 194   0 Running  
23 30 33 Frankie Muniz # More Core Ford 176   14 Running  
24 23 88 Matt Crafton MasterForce/Menards Ford 156   13 Running  
25 22 75 Parker Kligerman Sucker Punch Chevrolet 147  9 14 Suspension  
26 12 66 Luke Fenhaus Soda Sense Ford 136 10  12 Engine  
27 35 22 Cody Dennison TIMCAST Ford 131   10 Running  
28 10 15 Tanner Gray Black's Tire Service Toyota 117 8 10 13 Accident  
29 20 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 117   8 Accident  
30 13 42 Matt Mills JF Electric #ThankALineman Chevrolet 117   7 Accident  
31 9 98 Ty Majeski Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford 109 7 6 15 Accident  
32 3 99 Ben Rhodes Campers Inn RV Ford 71   5 Steering  
33 33 2 Stephen Mallozzi Stacking Dennys Ford 41   4 Suspension  
34 32 90 Justin Carroll Carroll's Automotive Toyota 34   3 Too Slow  
35 34 6 Norm Benning MDIA Inc Chevrolet 17   2 Too Slow  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  11                                                                     127 / 22.912
# lap

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 49 Mins, 37 Secs. Average Speed: 102.904 MPH Margin of Victory: 6.657 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 34, 13, 45, 38, 11, 17, 98, 15, 07, 66
Stage 2 Top 10: 34, 45, 13, 38, 11, 98, 9, 17, 75, 15

Race Comments: Tyler Ankrum won the Black?s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway, his second career victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following truck dropped to the rear for the reasons indicated: No. 52 (unapproved adjustments; damage from practice incident).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 5 for 33 laps; Laps: 3-6 (#44, 81 Incident Turn 3 [None]); 47-55 (Stage 1 Conclusion [91]); 92-99 (Stage 2 Conclusion [18]); 110-115 (#98 Incident Turn 1 [Red Flag: 9:47] [76]); 118-123 (#15, 42, 52 Incident Frontstretch [Red Flag: 3:20] [02]).

Lead Changes: 11 among 9 drivers; J. Garcia 1-43; L. Riggs 44-50; K. Honeycutt 51-55; G. Enfinger 56-70; K. Honeycutt 71-77; L. Riggs 78-94; C. Smith 95-115; D. Hemric 116; C. Smith 117-118; C. Heim 119-170; G. Ruggiero # 171; T. Ankrum 172-200.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: May 2, 2025 - Texas Motor Speedway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Points Report
Rockingham Speedway
Black?s Tire 200

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 4/18/2025 @ 07:58 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Corey Heim 11 7 0 312 0 0 2 4 14
2. Chandler Smith 38 7 0 290 -22 22 1 1 6
3. Tyler Ankrum 18 7 1 250 -62 40 1 1 6
4. Daniel Hemric 19 7 1 239 -73 11 1 0 5
5. Layne Riggs 34 7 1 232 -80 7 0 2 2
6. Ty Majeski 98 7 -3 228 -84 4 0 1 1
7. Jake Garcia 13 7 3 224 -88 4 0 0 0
8. Grant Enfinger 9 7 -1 218 -94 6 0 0 0
9. Kaden Honeycutt 45 7 2 215 -97 3 0 0 0
10. Stewart Friesen 52 7 -2 185 -127 30 0 0 0
11. Giovanni Ruggiero # 17 7 2 181 -131 4 0 0 0
12. Ben Rhodes 99 7 -3 179 -133 2 0 1 1
13. Tanner Gray 15 7 -1 161 -151 18 0 0 0
14. Rajah Caruth 71 7 0 159 -153 2 0 0 0
15. Jack Wood 91 7 1 147 -165 12 0 1 1
16. Andres Perez De Lara # 77 7 1 140 -172 7 0 0 0
17. Matt Crafton 88 7 -2 139 -173 1 0 1 1
18. Connor Mosack # 81 7 2 131 -181 8 0 0 0
19. Dawson Sutton # 26 7 0 123 -189 8 0 0 0
20. Matt Mills 42 7 -2 122 -190 1 0 0 0
21. Bayley Currey 44 5 0 109 -203 13 0 1 0
22. Spencer Boyd 76 7 0 106 -206 3 0 0 0
23. Toni Breidinger # 5 7 1 93 -219 13 0 0 0
24. Frankie Muniz # 33 7 -1 88 -224 5 0 0 0
25. Luke Fenhaus 66 5 0 81 -231 7 0 0 0
26. Nathan Byrd 02 7 0 71 -241 10 0 0 0
27. Josh Reaume  3 0 47 -265 24 0 0 0
28. Timmy Hill 56 2 5 42 -270 5 0 0 0
29. Justin Carroll 90 4 -1 42 -270 0 0 0 0
30. Parker Kligerman 75 3 4 38 -274 4 0 0 0
31. Lawless Alan  1 -2 31 -281 7 0 0 0
32. Jason White  1 -2 29 -283 2 0 0 0
33. Norm Benning 6 4 -1 29 -283 0 0 0 0
34. Johnny Sauter  1 -3 29 -283 0 0 0 0
35. Stefan Parsons  1 0 19 -293 10 0 0 0
36. Cody Dennison 22 2 4 17 -295 2 0 0 0
37. Luke Baldwin  1 -1 15 -297 2 0 0 0
38. Stephen Mallozzi 2 4 1 15 -297 0 0 0 0
39. Matthew Gould  1 -2 14 -298 1 0 0 0
40. Keith Mcgee  2 -2 12 -300 2 0 0 0
41. Michel Disdier  1 0 6 -306 6 0 0 0
42. Alan Waller  1 0 6 -306 0 0 0 0
43. Akinori Ogata  1 0 5 -307 1 0 0 0
44. Clay Greenfield  1 0 4 -308 1 0 0 0
45. Ryan Roulette  1 0 2 -310 2 0 0 0
46. Kyle Busch(i)  1 0 0 -312 2 1 1 0
47. Kyle Larson(i)  2 0 0 -312 0 1 0 0
48. Justin Haley(i)  2 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
49. Ross Chastain(i)  1 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
50. William Sawalich(i)  3 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
51. Michael Mcdowell(i)  2 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
52. Brandon Jones(i) 1 3 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
53. William Byron(i)  1 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
54. Corey Day(i) 7 5 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
55. Mason Maggio(i)  1 0 0 -312 0 0 0 0
56. Sammy Smith(i) 07 1 -56 0 -312 0 0 0 0
57. Patrick Staropoli(i)  2 -1 0 -312 0 0 0 0
58. Tyler Tomassi(i)  1 -1 0 -312 0 0 0 0
59. Bryan Dauzat  0 -1 0 -312 0 0 0 0

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series