Tyler Ankrum will be returning as the driver of the No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (MHR) for the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
The news comes as the 2018 ARCA Menards Series East champion from San Bernardino, California, is coming off his fifth full-time campaign in the Truck Series and first with MHR. In his first season with MHR, Ankrum made the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs and finished in eighth place in the final standings. He also notched career-high stats in top fives (six), top 10s (12) and laps led (92) while also tying his career-best average-finishing result of 13.4, the same he generated in 2020, throughout the 23-race schedule.
For the 2025 season, Ankrum will also have continuous crew chief support from Mark Hillman, the latter of whom returns for his fourth Truck season as a crew chief for MHR.
“I’m really glad to be staying at MHR with Mark and the entire LIUNA team,” Ankrum said in a released statement. “This last year was probably the best of my career with the consistency we showed throughout the season. Making the playoffs was a huge goal for us and we were in the mix all the way to Martinsville, so we want to take another step and make it to Phoenix in 2025. We all want to get back to victory lane, and I think keeping this group together and continuing to develop as a team will help us get there.”
Ankrum made his Truck Series debut in 2018, the same season where he would claim the ARCA East title. Driving the No. 54 Toyota for DGR-Crosley at Martinsville Speedway in October 2018, Ankrum started 19th and finished 18th in his debut. He would make an additional start at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he finished sixth.
The following season, Ankrum moved up to the Truck Series to drive the No. 17 entry for DGR-Crosley. After being absent for the first three-scheduled events due to age restrictions, he spent his first nine events racing between DGR-Crosley and NEMCO Motorsports due to sponsorship woes. Then at Kentucky Speedway, he claimed his first Truck career victory and earned an automatic berth to the Playoffs. Despite being eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 6, he settled in eighth place in the final standings and wrapped up the 2019 Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Ankrum would proceed to spend his next two Truck seasons racing for GMS Racing. During the two-year span, he made the Playoffs in 2020 and settled in ninth place in the final standings on the strength of 10 top-10 results. He also recorded his first career pole for the series’ inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in May 2021. The following two seasons, he transitioned to Hattori Racing Enterprises, where his best points result was 12th in 2022, before he made his recent move to MHR in 2024.
Through 136 current starts in the Truck Series, Ankrum has recorded one victory, one pole, 16 top-five results, 50 top-10 results, 236 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.4 as he strives to extend the momentum from this past season towards a return to Victory Lane and another Playoff bid in 2025.
“Tyler had his strongest season in 2024 and the best is yet to come,” Bill McAnally, team owner of MHR, added. “He, Mark (Hillman), and the whole LIUNA team worked well together, made a strong playoff run, and put themselves in position to win some races. The growth of MHR we have for 2025 will make the No. 18 team stronger and I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish with Tyler next season.”
With his plans for next season set, Tyler Ankrum’s 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 14. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
