Tracking the Trucks: Truckers Prove NASCAR Should’ve Never Left Rockingham

In A Nutshell

It had been 2,108 days since Tyler Ankrum‘s last — and only — visit to victory lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. That was at Kentucky Speedway on July 11, 2019.

Since then, Ankrum has had great results — even earning a win in 2023 in the ARCA Menards Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the interim. But as close as he was, he could never quite return to victory lane again in the Truck Series.

Until now.

Ankrum held on to for his second career Truck Series win on Friday (April 18) in NASCAR’s first trip back to Rockingham Speedway since 2013.

Like his Kentucky victory way back when, Ankrum and his competition resorted to fuel saving to make it the rest of the 200-lap distance. Ankrum also collects the final $50,000 up for grabs courtesy of the Triple Truck Challenge.

The Top Truckers at Rockingham Speedway

Winner: Tyler Ankrum
Polesitter: Jake Garcia
Stage 1 & 2 Winner: Layne Riggs
Most Laps Led (52 of 200 laps), Fastest Lap (22.912 seconds, 147.696 mph): Corey Heim
Biggest Movers: Rajah Caruth (started 21st, finished 4th) and Jack Wood (started 24th, finished seventh) — each gained 17 spots

The Winning Move

After a pair of red flags for crashes early in the final stage, fuel mileage quickly became the name of the game. Corey Heim and rookie teammate Gio Ruggiero ran first and second for a majority of the final stage, hoping a caution would fall their way so they could pit and maintain track position.

However, the caution never came, and they both dove for pit road with less than 30 laps to go. Ankrum, running third, assumed the race lead by just over a second on Chandler Smith. Smith was distant but keeping pressure on the No. 18 in case Ankrum slipped up.

Coming to the white flag, Ankrum extended his lead slightly, but he was ultimately saved after Smith ran out of fuel prior to the white flag. That allowed Ankrum (who was told prior to assuming the lead he could make it the rest of the way) to cruise to his second career victory, winning by six seconds over Garcia.

Playoff Rundown

A fourth driver has entered the playoff picture.

Ankrum’s win allows him to join Heim, Daniel Hemric and Smith as those who have locked themselves in via victories. If you’re looking for a potential Championship 4 come Phoenix Raceway — this might be it.

Back at the playoff cut line, Stewart Friesen falls to 10th after a crash, holding just a four-point advantage over Ruggiero.

Rookie Report

Rookie of the Race: Despite spinning as part of the first caution of the race, Connor Mosack battled back all afternoon. As everybody ran out late in the going, Mosack powered through and finished ninth to lead the rookies and earn Rookie of the Race.

You know what? Let’s do a one-time re-title of this award, just for this race, because it’s so fitting. How about we give Mosack the honor of being the “Rookie of The Rock”?

Yeah, I like that.

In fact, Rockingham treated most of the rookies well. Ruggiero followed Mosack across the line in 10th, while all but four rookies finished comfortably inside the top 20. All but one (Luke Fenhaus) made it to the finish as well.

Nice job, new guys.

No. 02 — Nathan Byrd (14th)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger (18th)
No. 7 — Corey Day (22nd)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero (10th)
No. 22 — Cody Dennison (27th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton (19th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz (23rd)
No. 66 — Luke Fenhaus (26th)
No. 77 — Andres Perez (12th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack (ninth)

One Big Takeaway From This Race

Let me preface this by saying that I had the privilege of attending this race. Rockingham is one of my favorite racetracks, and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see NASCAR’s return to The Rock.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric. For a Truck Series race. The entire track was abuzz, ready for the drop of the green flag that they’d been waiting 12 years for.

The attendance for the @NASCAR_Trucks race alone should be reason enough for #NASCAR to return next year, let alone the Cup Series.#BlacksTire200 pic.twitter.com/69z1QQECJe

— Anthony Damcott (@AnthonyDamcott) April 18, 2025

The race (on a newly-repaved track) had everything — battles for the lead, attrition throughout the field, a fuel mileage race, and even a surprise winner (when you consider where Ankrum ran the whole day compared to others, at least).

The fans cheered at every lead change. Every crash. Every battle for 22nd. They were locked in on all of it.

About 30 minutes after Ankrum took the checkered flag, there was still a handful of people in the stands hoping the race winner would come interact with them (which he did).

Why did we ever leave this racetrack? The fans will always show up. Hell, they did the last time NASCAR descended on The Rock in 2012 and 2013 — and that was solely for the Truck Series. That makes the excuse that people make regarding attendance being the reason NASCAR left a second time completely invalid.

After 12 years, the Truck race nearly sold out, and the Xfinity Series race (after 21 years) did sell out. The fans will always show up to the track. The repave actually helped the racing even more, and we were treated to an absolute chaotic (but clean) show.

Even the drivers themselves praised returning to The Rock, not just fans.

Hopefully NASCAR looks at this and keeps coming back — ideally, maybe we let the Xfinity and Truck Series have their own little standalone event. But if the Xfinity race is sold out? Imagine what a Cup Series return would do for the track.

Talkin’ Truckers

Ankrum on the win:

Polesitter Garcia continues streak of momentum with second-most laps led and runner-up finish:

Rajah Caruth (fourth), Jack Wood (seventh) and Bayley Currey (20th) break down their great afternoons — or lack thereof:

Kaden Honeycutt (sixth) still trying to figure out his restarts:

Layne Riggs (11th) leaves Rockingham without a top 10 after winning both stages:

Andres Perez and Smith (12th and 13th, respectively) talk about running out of fuel at the end, while Nathan Byrd (14th) expresses elation at a career-best finish:

Paint Scheme of the Race

As tempting as it was to give Brandon Jones this honor for the third time in his three starts (because man, did he have another good looking paint scheme this week), his teammate Tanner Gray had a slightly (and I mean slightly) better-looking paint scheme this week.

Black’s Tire is back! 🙌

Our longtime partner returns with Tanner Gray to celebrate the company’s entitlement race, the Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham 🛞 pic.twitter.com/CdijZKaOMe

— TRICON (@TRICONGarage) April 1, 2025

Not only have Black’s Tire paint schemes looked good for many years (even after however long its been since it last sponsored a NASCAR car or truck), but it’s also a good-looking paint scheme for a sponsor that was also the entitlement sponsor of the race. That meant extra pressure for Gray to perform at a track he’s never raced at before. All eyes from Black’s Tire were on him to perform well in a race where it was sponsoring not only him, but also the entire show.

Unfortunately, Gray got caught up in a crash in stage three and finished a dismal 28th.

Next Stop

The Truckers make their lone stop to the Lone Star State.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will take the upcoming week off before heading to Texas Motor Speedway on May 2. Kyle Busch won last year’s event, but he is not scheduled to enter this year’s edition and therefore will not have a chance to defend his victory.

Coverage for the SpeedyCash.com 250 begins on Friday, May 2 at approximately 8 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 will once again carry television coverage, while the all new NASCAR Racing Network will continue its exclusive season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.

Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.