Tyler M. Ankrum (born March 6, 2001) is an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver. He competes full-time in the

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

, driving the No. 16

Toyota Tundra The Toyota Tundra is a pickup truck manufactured in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since May 1999. The Tundra was the second full-size pickup to be built by a Japanese manufacturer (the first was the Toyota T100), but the ...

for

Hattori Racing Enterprises Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) is a Japanese-American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Owned by former NASCAR and open-wheel driver Shigeaki Hattori they compete with the No. 16 ...

. Ankrum won the

2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East The 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East was the 32nd season of the K&N Pro Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR. It began with the New Smyrna 175 at New Smyrna Speedway on February 11 and concluded with the Crosley 1 ...

championship, earning

DGR-Crosley TRICON Garage, formally known as David Gilliland Racing and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards S ...

's first championship in any racing series. Ankrum is the first driver born in 2000 or later to win a NASCAR national series race.

Racing career

Growing up on the west coast of America, Ankrum started racing

quarter midgets Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a ...

and later moved up to

late model A late model car is a car which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model. (An early model car or classic car is a car old enough to be of historical interest; there is no usual intermediate term.) The precise definition ...

s. He won his first late model race at

Caraway Speedway Caraway Speedway is a short track located near Asheboro, North Carolina, U.S. Caraway Speedway was built in 1966 as a dirt track. The track was paved in 1972 and joined the NASCAR Weekly Series family as a .455 mile asphalt short track. Caraway ...

at age 14. Ankrum continues to run

super late model A late model car is a car which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model. (An early model car or classic car is a car old enough to be of historical interest; there is no usual intermediate term.) The precise definition ...

races around the country, winning

Hickory Motor Speedway Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as the "World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars". The tr ...

's Fall Brawl in 2015 and finishing third in the 2018 Rattler 250. He switched to the super late model in late 2015 after one year running the

CARS Tour The CARS Solid Rock Carriers Tour (formerly known as the USARacing Pro Cup Series, USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, CARS Pro Cup Series, Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series, CARS X1-R Pro Cup Series) is a stock car auto racing series in the United States. It is s ...

in the Late Model Stock division.

K&N Pro Series East

In January 2018, Ankrum signed with

David Gilliland Racing TRICON Garage, formally known as David Gilliland Racing and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards Se ...

for half of the

season. By the third race of the season, one more race was added with the potential for more with additional funding; it eventually morphed into a full-time effort. He won his first race in his fourth start at

South Boston Speedway South Boston Speedway, or "SoBo", is a short track located just outside South Boston, Virginia. SoBo is located approximately east of another area familiar to most NASCAR fans, Martinsville. It is owned by Mattco, Inc., the Mattioli family tr ...

in May over teammate

Tyler Dippel Tyler W. Dippel (born April 5, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in 2019, driving the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado for Young's Motorsports. Racing career ...

, and almost won the other race in the doubleheader that day if not for a run-in with

Chase Cabre Chase Cabre (born February 7, 1997) is an American stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, driving the No. 4 Toyota Camry for Rev Racing. Cabre started his racing career in motocross and later moved t ...

late in the second race. Ankrum then went on a midsummer tear, winning three consecutive K&N East races, at

Thompson Speedway Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP), formerly Thompson Speedway and Thompson International Speedway, is a motorsports park in Thompson, Connecticut, featuring a asphalt oval racetrack and a road racing course. Once known as the "Indianapo ...

after failing post-qualifying tech; going flag-to-flag the following week in a caution-free race at

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...

, and winning a combination east–west race at

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...

, which he called "overwhelming". Despite only finishing 13th at the September New Hampshire race, Ankrum left the event with an insurmountable points lead, clinching him the 2018 K&N Pro Series East championship.

Camping World Truck Series

After winning the K&N Pro Series East championship, Ankrum would make his Truck Series debut at Martinsville in the No. 54

for

. Seth Smith, Ankrum's K&N crew chief, served as crew chief for the effort. After starting nineteenth, Ankrum finished eighteenth. Ankrum ran the following race with DGR, notching his first top-ten finish in sixth at

ISM Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship ...

. When asked in early November 2018 about 2019 plans, Ankrum noted that a lack of sponsorship would likely prevent him from running in the Truck Series full-time in 2019. He stated that his 2019 racing slate would include part-time rides in Trucks, the

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

and in

racing. However, on December 14, 2018, Ankrum and DGR-Crosley announced that he would run full-time in 2019 starting with the spring Martinsville race due to age restrictions. At Texas in June, Ankrum graduated high school on a stage during pre-race ceremonies and then recovered from multiple incidents during the race, including a slide down pit road, to finish a career-best third. On June 11, 2019, Ankrum announced that sponsorship woes had put him out of the truck, with only a handful of races left in the season. He would eventually land a

start and park Start and park is a term used in auto racing, particularly in NASCAR-sanctioned races, to describe the practice of racing teams starting races but pulling the car off the track after just a few laps in order to collect prize money while avoiding e ...

ride with

NEMCO Motorsports NEMCO Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is owned by driver Joe Nemechek and his family. NEMCO Motorsports has had success, winning the 1992 Busch Se ...

for races not on his DGR-Crosley schedule, allowing him to remain eligible for the playoffs. On July 11, 2019, Ankrum scored his first Truck Series win at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

after

Brett Moffitt Brett B. Moffitt (born August 7, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 25 Ford Mustang for AM Racing. He won Rookie of the Year Honors in 2015 in the NASCAR ...

ran out of fuel towards the final lap. This also marked DGR-Crosley's first Truck Series win. The win qualified him for the playoffs, but he did not advance past the Round of 6. On November 14, 2019, Ankrum joined

GMS Racing Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field t ...

for the 2020 Truck season. Tyler Ankrum 16 Truck Sonoma 2022

In 2022, he will return to driving a Toyota team, this time the No. 16 for

Personal life

When Ankrum was young, he dreamed of being a professional bull rider like his childhood hero, Lane Frost. After his mom Michelle quickly turned down the idea, Ankrum quickly transitioned to wanting to be a professional golfer, after his father, who also dabbled in racing. After growing up on a ranch in Southern California, Ankrum and his family moved to North Carolina for racing. He attended

Lake Norman High School Lake Norman High School is located in Mooresville, North Carolina. The school is a part of the Iredell-Statesville school system. The name of the school comes from nearby Lake Norman. Lake Norman High School was built to relieve over-crowding ...

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

K&N Pro Series East

ARCA Menards Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ankrum, Tyler 2001 births Living people NASCAR drivers Racing drivers from California Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California