Love’s Stop 225 – Race Results
Venue: Talladega Superspeedway
FINISH: 2nd
Start: 7th
Stage One: 14th
Stage Two: 14th
NCTS Playoff Point Standings Position: 9th
Ankrum Comes Up One Spot Shy of Victory at Talladega
Tyler Ankrum, driver of the No. 18 LIUNA Chevrolet set the scene for his best finish of the 2026 season at Talladega Superspeedway after racing his way to a second-place finish. The young driver started the day with a hot qualifying lap that set him up to start the Love’s RV Stop 225 seventh in line. In true superspeedway fashion, the pack got dicey early on and a caution with four laps to go in the first stage forced the field to end the segment under yellow and Ankrum settled for a 14th-place finish in Stage One. The San Bernardino, Calif. native reported to his team that his race truck was pretty darty and a little loose. A quick trip down pit road for four tires, fuel and a round out of the right rear sent the young driver on his way to gear up for Stage Two.
Restarting 12th in line, Ankrum settled into the pack and went to work. He held strong in the middle of the pack for the majority of the second stage shuffling with the field. Another unfortunate late-stage caution caught the young driver back in 14th to end Stage Two. The driver of the No. 18 reported that overall balance was decent, but the late cautions were killing their chance to get up to the front to gain stage points and track position. Another solid stop by the No. 18 crew for four fresh tires and some Sunoco race fuel gained Ankrum five very valuable spots on pit road to restart the closing laps inside the top 10.
Throughout the final stage, No. 18 spotter Eddie D’Hondt guided Ankrum through chaos as the field started to wreck every few laps. Steering clear of any damage throughout the gaggle of cautions that arose, Ankrum found himself in fifth when a yellow flag fell with seven laps to go, forcing the field into a green-white-checkered finish. Ankrum chose the top to restart the final two laps in sixth. Staying steady right where he needed to be, the young driver pushed with all he had to the front as an incident broke out behind him headed to the white flag. The pack stayed green and Ankrum could see the finish line through the windshield. Powering through the final turn, the young driver pushed it four-wide across line as he came up just one spot shy of the victory to bring home a clean second-place finish at Talladega.
Tyler Ankrum Quote:
“What a run today at Talladega, man. Mark (Hillman, crew chief) and the guys brought me an absolute rocket ship today and we really solid all day long. Balance was overall pretty good, we just kept getting stuck behind the cautions which neglected us of stage points, unfortunately. The momentum we had today is something we will carry into the final two races and hopefully snag a win before the season is over. Great effort by this entire No. 18 LIUNA team today. Huge thanks to everyone from the LIUNA OVSS region that came out today to support us and all the contractors that showed up. Thank you to CHevy and MHR and everyone that helps make this deal happen.”
