NASCAR Truck Series: Where will Tyler Ankrum win his first race?

Tyler Ankrum has to win to make the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs. With almost one-third of the regular season complete, where will he win his first race?

Tyler Ankrum sits in 25th place in the championship standings after competing in the two most recent NASCAR Truck Series races. Due to the fact that he was underage earlier in the season, he could not compete in the first three races of the season. As a result, he has to win to make the playoffs. So which race track presents him with the best opportunity to earn his first victory and clinch a playoff berth?

Entering the 2019 NASCAR season, Ankrum had competed in only two Truck Series races, both driving for his current team, DGR-Crosley. In his Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway, Ankrum last year, he finished in 18th place. Two races later, he impressively finished in sixth in the race at ISM Raceway.

This season, Ankrum has recorded finishes of 19th and sixth place at Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, respectively. The 18-year-old driver of the #54 DGR-Crosley Toyota finished on the lead lap in both races.

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However, he must win to make this year’s playoffs. With only 11 races left in the regular season, Ankrum is 95 points below the playoff cut line.

While that amount is not insurmountable, if we factor in the ever-changing playoff cut line, especially since Kyle Busch is only set to compete in one more Truck Series race this season, it would pose quite the challenge for him.

Fortunately for Ankrum, DGR-Crosley have won races in the K&N Pro Series East, they have contended for wins in the ARCA Menards Series and they just added races to Natalie Decker’s Truck Series schedule. She is set to be Ankrum’s teammate for multiple races throughout the rest of this season.

With top-notch equipment, stability in a driver and Xfinity Series race winner David Gilliland as a co-owner, DGR-Crosley are ready to win their first Truck Series race, and with Ankrum needing to win to make the playoffs, where will he do it?

While Ankrum only has competed in four career Truck Series races, he has experience at a few of the tracks on the schedule. Driving for DGR-Crosley, he won the 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship, and four of the tracks on that schedule are on this year’s Truck Series schedule. He has raced at Dover International Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Gateway Motorsports Park and Bristol Motor Speedway.

Of those four race tracks, Iowa Speedway is the one at which he won. He finished in fourth place at Bristol Motor Speedway, sixth at Gateway Motorsports Park and 11th at Dover International Speedway. He knows how to race at these four tracks. To his advantage, Busch will not compete at any of those tracks this Truck Series season.

Ankrum should specifically be considered a contender at Iowa Speedway and Gateway Motorsports Park. While he finished in fourth place at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Truck Series race at the track is the first race in the Round of 8. So not only will a victory there not clinch him a playoff berth, but the intensity level will be raised among the playoff drivers.

Another race where I expect Ankrum to battle for the victory is the June race at Texas Motor Speedway, which is the first of three races in the Triple Truck Challenge. In the Triple Truck Challenge, only drivers who have declared for Truck Series points will be eligible to compete.

This rule benefits Ankrum because of the fact that Ross Chastain will be ineligible to compete in those three races, and he has contended in every race so far this season.

The March race at Texas Motor Speedway was Ankrum’s first race on a 1.5-mile oval. He qualified in sixth place, finished in seventh and 10th in stage one and stage two, respectively, and brought his #54 Toyota to the checkered flag in sixth. The rookie driver from San Bernardino, California certainly showcased his talent and the speed of DGR-Crosley in this race.

Having already driven at Texas Motor Speedway, Ankrum will take his newfound knowledge of the track and be better prepared to contend for the victory there on Friday, June 7.

While Ankrum and DGR-Crosley have the capability of winning at several different race tracks this season, expect them to shine in the three races at Texas Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, and Gateway Motorsports Park. This three-race stretch in June may very well see the rookie earn the first victory of his Truck Series career, clinch a playoff berth and bring the first Truck Series trophy back to DGR-Crosley.

The next NASCAR Truck Series race, the JEGS 200, is scheduled to take place at Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 3. Tyler Ankrum and the rest of the Truck Series field are set to race for 200 laps around the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) oval in Dover, Delaware. Fox Sports 1 is set to broadcast the race live beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.