Tyler Ankrum Scores Emotional Victory In Trucks Return to Rockingham

Tyler Ankrum gives the Rockingham Speedway fans a welcome back burnout in Friday afternoon’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Blacks Tire 200. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman | The Podium Finish)

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. – Tyler Ankrum drove his No. 18 Chevrolet Silverado to the very last drop of fuel, capturing his second career win in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series during the Black’s Tire 200 at the historic 1,000-mile oval of Rockingham Speedway. This victory also marked the end of a 130-race winless streak for him.

Ankrum led all but 29 laps to claim his first victory of the 2025 campaign and the $50,000 check for winning the third and final leg of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Triple Truck Challenge.

Jake Garcia from ThorSport Racing began the 200-lap race with a strong performance, leading the first 43 laps. However, in the final two laps of Stage 1, Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt took charge, with Riggs ultimately securing the lead at the end of the 45-lap stage, claiming his first stage victory of the 2025 campaign.

Layne Riggs (No. 34) and Jake Garcia (No. 13) fighting for on-track position at Rockingham Speedway. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman | The Podium Finish)

Riggs, Honeycutt, and Garcia battled again in Stage 2, racing closely alongside each other for the entire stage. In the final laps, Riggs clinched the stage victory, setting the stage for an exciting fight to the finish.

Defending Truck Series race winner Chandler Smith restarted out front with Rajah Caruth on the front row for the final 110 laps of the race.

Reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Ty Majeski’s solid day had come to a quick and unfortunate end on Lap 110 while fighting Grant Enfinger for ninth place, getting loose underneath Enfinger entering Turn 1, making heavy contact with the outside SAFER barrier to bring out the fourth caution on the afternoon.

Smith and Daniel Hemric brought the field back to green for only 8 laps before trouble struck exiting Turn 4.

Caruth slipped off the entry coming onto the front stretch, sliding right into Stewart Friesen’s path, collecting Tanner Gray and Matt Mills, putting the race under the red flag.

Stewart Friesen (No. 52) and Matt Mills (No. 42) suffered heavy crashes on Lap 118. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman | The Podium Finish)

Corey Heim darted away from the field once the field saw the green flag for what would be the final time of the day, gapping his TRICON Garage teammate of Gio Ruggiero by nearly a second and a half with under 35 laps to go in the race.

Race leader Heim ran as long as he could before having to service his No. 1 Toyota Tundra, handing the lead off to Ruggiero before pitting, putting the race into the hands of Ankrum, who had been saving fuel for the majority of the final stage in third place.

Race winner Tyler Ankrum (No.18) getting loose while battling Corey Day (No. 7) and Daniel Hemric (No.19) (Photo Credit: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

Ankrum’s challenge for the race win against Smith came to an abrupt halt when Smith’s truck ran out of fuel on the final lap. This raised the question of whether Ankrum could make it back around with the fuel he had left. As the team took a gamble on that possibility, Ankrum ultimately secured his first victory of 2025 and earned a spot in the playoffs.

“It’s strange, I didn’t know where Victory Lane was at,” said Ankrum, the driver of the No. 18 Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing said in a post-race interview.

“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.

Ankrum’s 130-race winless streak, which dates back to his maiden series victory at Kentucky Speedway in 2019, stood as the longest in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series history, finally snapping the ill-fated record.

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing overall as an organization put all four of their entries inside the top 10 finishing spots with Ankrum winning, Hemric third, Jack Wood claiming his career-best Truck Series finish of seventh, and Connor Mosack scoring his first top 10 of the 2025 campaign in ninth.

Jake Garcia, who ran arguably the best race of his Truck Series career, had to settle for the second-place finish.

“Yeah, it was a good day,” Garcia said.

“Obviously we want to be one stop or one spot higher, but I’m proud of our guys. We brought a really fast truck to the race track. Strategy deal there at the end. These guys work really, really hard and put together really nice pieces for me to come drive,” Garcia said. “I’ve got good trucks under me now and can run up front.”

Caruth and Enfinger rounded out the top 5 on Friday.

Honeycutt drove home to a sixth-place run. Heim finished eighth, the first truck one lap down, and Ruggiero also drove through the field to claim his third top 10 of 2025 in 10th.

The Truck Series returns to the eighth round of the season on May 2 at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the SpeedyCash.com 250.

Stage 1 Results
1st. Layne Riggs
2nd: Jake Garcia
3rd: Kaden Honeycutt
4th: Chandler Smith
5th: Corey Heim
6th: Gio Ruggiero
7th: Ty Majeski
8th: Tanner Gray
9th: Sammy Smith
10th: Luke Fenhaus

Stage 2 Results
1st: Layne Riggs
2nd: Kaden Honeycutt
3rd: Jake Garcia
4th: Chandler Smith
5th: Corey Heim
6th: Ty Majeski
7th: Grant Enfinger
8th: Gio Ruggiero
9th: Parker Kligerman
10th: Tanner Gray

2025 Blacks Tire 200 Rockingham Speedway NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Results