Tyler Ankrum wins the ARCA Menards Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the Zinsser SmartCoat 150 on Friday.
LEXINGTON, Ohio — On a restart with 18 laps to go Friday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, race-leader Tyler Ankrum got shoved off the track in the first turn, dropping him out of the top ten.
Tyler Ankrum Wins the ARCA Menards Series Race at Mid-Ohio
Just 13 circuits later, with five laps to go, the 22-year-old from San Bernardino, California made the race-winning pass on fellow NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Dean Thompson.
Ankrum and Thompson ran the Zinsser SmartCoat 150 to prepare for Saturday’s Truck Series race at the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course. They accomplished much more in his ARCA Menards Series run with his triumphant comeback.
“I knew I had a great car. We were really fast in practice and qualifying,” Ankrum said. “I just had to pull my head out of my rear end and keep it upfront. … I don’t think that if my car wasn’t as good as it was I could have driven through the field like that.
“I don’t want to do that again. I would have much rather just led all those laps.”
Ankrum is in his sixth season of NASCAR Truck Series competition and is the 2018 ARCA Menards Series East champion. Friday’s victory marked his first ARCA Menards Series (national) win in his second start.
Ankrum and Hattori Taking What They Learned to NASCAR Truck Series
Hattori Racing Enterprises fielded Ankrum’s ARCA car and his NASCAR Truck Series ride for the Mid-Ohio weekend. That effort proved valuable with Ankrum’s effort Friday night.
“We were talking before the race about what we wanted to learn from this to take to the truck,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot. There are quite a few things we can take from this and add it to the truck.”
The Zinsser SmartCoat 150 Results
Thompson did not earn a top-five finish despite the speed he showed Friday at Mid-Ohio. That’s because he and fellow Venturini Motorsports driver Sean Hingorani tangled on the final lap, leaving Thompson with a tenth-place finish and Hingorani with a 13th-place run.
William Sawalich and Jack Wood, two more drivers scheduled to race in Saturday’s Truck Series event at Mid-Ohio, finished second and third, respectively.
The ARCA Menards Series Point Standings
ARCA Menards Series championship points leader Jesse Love finished fourth, an impressive run given the issues the VMS driver battled Friday. He started at the back of the field after failing to qualify with electrical problems.
“I don’t know what was going on [during the race],” Love said. “Whenever I’d get about two laps into a run, I’d just lose all my fuel pressure. It would just start sputtering and the fuel pressure gauge would go way down.
“We were the best car on every corner of the race track. I thought we were the best car at the end today. It’s just, yeah, not sure what happened. Fuel pressure-wise, it went south.”
Dale Quarterley rounded out the top-five finishers.
ARCA Menards Series rookie Frankie Muniz finished fifth Friday. The former TV star was returning to the track where an accident in 2009 halted his racing career.
“The racing is so fun in this series,” Muniz said. “It’s so tight, but I learned so much. It’s so different than what I used to race. I had a blast and learned a lot for Watkins Glen.”
Todd Souza, Conner Jones, Zach Herrin and Thompson completed the top ten finishers.
The Zinsser SmartCoat 150 Stats
Friday’s Zinsser SmartCoat 150 featured three cautions, one of which was the scheduled race break on lap 22 of 42. The other two yellow flags were the results of issues for Tim Richmond (stopped on track) and Casey Carden (flat tire).
Next Up
The ARCA Menards Series returns to action Saturday, July 15 for the Calypso 150 at Iowa Speedway, a combination race with the East Series. That race will be shown live on FS2 and FloRacing starting at 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET.