[autotag]Hattori Racing Enterprises[/autotag] downsized to one full-time truck for the 2023 NASCAR Truck Series season, and it didn’t work out well. Tyler Ankrum failed to make the playoffs again and regressed compared to 2022. Ankrum only had one top-5 finish and six top-10 finishes. The driver of the No. 16 truck shockingly ended up 17th in the point standings.
Ankrum didn’t have the speed to compete with a best finish of fourth place at Circuit of the Americas, and the second part-time truck had the same fate. Christopher Bell drove the No. 61 truck twice and failed to win. The days of winning at least two races per year between 2018 and 2021 feel long gone as Hattori Racing Enterprises tries to turn it around.
In 2024, Ankrum will not return to the organization as he will go full-time with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Currently, Hattori Racing Enterprises has no drivers for next season as they search for a competitor to put them back in victory lane. The No. 16 truck is still race-winning equipment, and with the right hire, it could see the same success as two years ago.
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