Race Weekend Central

Tyler Ankrum, Austin Hill Pace Truck Practice Sessions at Bristol

Frontstretch’s Truck Series content is presented by American Trucks

With two practice sessions on Thursday (Aug. 15) at Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoffs are officially underway.

Opening Practice

Kentucky winner Tyler Ankum led the way in the opening 50-minute practice, with a speed of 126.420 mph, just under a tenth-of-a-second ahead of Ross Chastain (125.831 mph).

Matt Crafton, who enters the playoffs with the best average finishing position of the entire field this season, was third on the board (125.354 mph). Raphael Lessard (125.036 mph) and Brett Moffitt (124.930 mph) rounded out the top five.

Sam Mayer, making his debut for GMS Racing was sixth on the board. Johnny Sauter, Sheldon Creed, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top 10.

The only playoff driver outside the top 10 on single-lap speed was Austin Hill, who was mired back in 18th. Making a rare start for Henderson Motorsports, Parker Kligerman was 17th quickest.

Out of the 15 drivers to make a run of at least 10 consecutive laps, Creed was quickest at 123.983 mph. Ankrum was the only playoff driver to make such a run.

Full results from opening Truck Series practice 

Final Practice 

Despite being the lowest playoff driver in opening practice, Austin Hill led the way in final practice, looking for back-to-back wins via his win at Michian last week. The No. 16 turned a hot lap of 126.328 mph, just beating out Mayer (126.096 mph) for the top spot.

Moffitt (125.790 mph), Friesen (125.617 mph) and Sauter (125.469 mph) rounded out the top five. Ankrum, Lessard, Creed, Harrison Burton and Crafton were the rest of the top 10.

The two playoff drivers outside the top 10 in final practice were Enfinger, who was 12th on the scoring pylon, under two-tenths off the quick lap from Hill. Chastain, on the other hand, was down in 20th.

Twenty-two cars made a run of at least 10 consecutive laps. Moffitt led the way at 122.594 mph, while Burton ran the most laps at 73.

Full results from final practice at Bristol

Qualifying for tonight’s UNOH 200 will begin at 4:35 p.m. ET.

About the author

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share via