The last time Parker Kligerman has not raced at Talladega Superspeedway in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car, the championship was called the Nationwide Series. This will change on Saturday as he enters the Sparks 300 in the #48 Chevrolet Camaro for Big Machine Racing Team.
“I’ve got a big weekend coming up @talladega,” posted Kligerman on social media. “I’ll be doing my second Trucks/NXS double-header of the year. Thanks to [Big Machine Racing] & [Scott Borchetta, team owner] for the opportunity! Felt like the old NASCAR thunder career modes when I got the call after winning Mid-Ohio.
“I’ll be on the Cup broadcast on Sunday as well. Let’s go get a couple trophy’s”.
Kligerman has two career Xfinity starts at Talladega, crashing out and classifying thirty-first in 2010 followed by sixth in 2013. The latter marked his lone full season in the series as he finished ninth in points for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and was the last time he ran an Xfinity superspeedway race.
While his Xfinity Talladega background is limited, he has as many victories there in the Camping World Truck Series as Xfinity starts with wins in 2012 and 2016. He has primarily competed part-time in the Trucks since 2016, including a thirteen-race schedule in 2022 for Henderson Motorsports. Kligerman scored a third Truck victory at Mid-Ohio in July.
He made two Xfinity starts earlier this year for Emerling-Gase Motorsports at COTA and Indianapolis, finishing twelfth and thirty-seventh. The COTA start, his first Xfinity race since 2017, came in a double duty weekend as he also ran the Truck race for Henderson. Such an arrangement will also take place at Talladega as he will run Saturday’s Truck race for Henderson.
The Big Machine #48 is seventeenth in owner points. Jade Buford began the season as the car’s full-time driver before being replaced by a rotation of drivers like Marco Andretti, Austin and Ty Dillon, Kaz Grala, Tyler Reddick, Nick Sanchez, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Reddick scored the team’s first win at Texas in May. Grala was caught in a wreck in the first Talladega race in April.
Borchetta first revealed Kligerman’s entry in an interview with The Sports Credential at the Music City Grand Prix in August.
Photo Credit: Big Machine Racing Team