The last time Tyler Ankrum crossed the start finish line leading in a NASCAR Truck Series race, the world was obsessed with a song about baby sharks, a new video game called Fortnite and Kyle Busch was still winning Cup races.
Alright, a low blow for Busch fans, but I had to. Needless to say, this result has been a long time coming for the Truck Series veteran. Especially, considering the hot streak he’s been on to start this season.
Disregarding Daytona, Ankrum has finished outside the top 5 only once and never finished outside the top 10. While Corey Heim has been making headlines for his wins, Ankrum has been lurking and just like those awfully annoying baby sharks, he finally snatched his prey at Rockingham.
At the start of today’s race though it was a former McAnally-Hilgemann driver who looked poised to control the event. Now with ThorSport, Jake Garcia claimed the pole and after an early caution jumped out to a commanding lead.
After leading the majority of the, very short, first stage, Garcia was reeled in by reigning winner Chandler Smith and his teammate Layne Riggs. Riggs snuck by his teammate and barely got by Garcia with two laps left in the stage to take the green and white checkered away from him.
The Riggs and Garcia battle was indicative of most of the action at The Rock, while Riggs was able to close on Garcia, it was very tough to actually complete the pass and get by someone.
While Riggs lost the lead on pit road, it only took him two laps to reclaim it engaging in a three-way fight with Grant Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt. The trio consistently swapped the lead with Honeycutt even managing to pass the other two in one go at one point.
However, it would again be Riggs who would have the last laugh. After Honeycutt struggled with lapped traffic, Riggs reeled him in and took the stage two victory. This win made Riggs the first non-Heim to sweep the stages in a Truck Series race this season.
As trucks came down for a pit stop, the third stage’s 110 lap length loomed over the crew chiefs. Double the length of the other stages and no tire falloff meant that if the stage went mostly green, fuel would be the deciding factor.
To begin stage three, Smith staved off Rajah Caruth to get the lead, but a spin by Ty Majeski brought out the caution just 10 laps into it. On the ensuing restart, Caruth would get loose behind the leaders causing a huge wreck on the front stretch.
Caruth’s slide forced Stewart Friesen to check up, but late brakes from Matt Mills shot Friesen down the track, collecting Tanner Gray in a hard hit. After being released from the infield care center, Friesen lamented the racing in the Truck Series.
It was here that Heim and Gio Ruggerio stayed out, hoping to catch another caution as the rest of the field pitted behind them. As the race went back green, Heim took the lead, eventually laying down the fastest lap of the race in his stint, praying for another caution.
Heim’s prayers remained unanswered however and despite building a near three second at one point, he and Ruggerio were forced to pit with around 30 laps to go. The lead fell onto Ankrum who had developed a healthy lead over Smith as both were trying to save as much fuel as possible.
The rest of the field limped around, hoping to save every last drop, but it wasn’t enough and Ankrum coasted to his first win in 130 races.
The Craftsman Truck Series is off next week, avoiding the carnage at Talladega, but will return for everyone’s favorite repaved track Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, May 2 at 5:00 p.m. PST.
The Wave Around | NASCAR and Motorsports Blog 
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