WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.: Parker Kligerman is not going down without a fight.
by Chris Knight
The Big Machine Racing driver finished third in a chaotic ending to Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and pulled within three points of placing himself above the cutoff line in the race to the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
Kligerman of Westport, CT capitalized on the misfortune of Riley Herbst to close the gap considerably with his fifth top-five finish of the season.
After the race, Kligerman noted that he was proud of his Big Machine Racing team, but the team got lucky with circumstances that allowed them to earn their best finish since finishing second at Road America last month.
“Everyone on this Spiked Coolers Big Machine Chevy did a good job,” said Kligerman. “We had a car that was not as fast as Xfinity 10G internet. We probably brought a 10th-place car which is more disappointing. We had a great finish. We salvaged some good points. We kept ourselves in the fight. I have to sort through this one to find out how to be more faster.”
The Westport, Connecticut native was also fired up on how NASCAR lined him up for the final restart after the field went into overtime following a Lap 80 caution for a pile-up in Turn 5.
Initially scored inside the top five for the green-white-checkered finish, the sanctioning body dropped the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet several spots putting him on the cusp of the top-10 for the impending restart.
Kligerman acknowledged that he should not have restarted fifth but believed his team deserved to be a row or two higher. The decision may have prevented Kligerman from scoring his first Xfinity Series win.
“I’ll have to talk to NASCAR sort through this one because we were in fifth, which maybe that was a little too far, but they set us like four or five back,” Kligerman explained. “If we went back to Turn 1, that’s where we lined up, which was ninth instead of us being fifth, but the unfortunate part is if you give us a row or two, look at where the No. 2 (second) and the No. 1 (first) is.”
Remembering last month how crazy the last laps were at the Road America road course race, the 31-year-old recounted what helped him earn his season-best finish and tried to apply the same tactic on Saturday.
Sitting just three points below the cutline with three races remaining in the regular season, Kligerman knows that deficit can be easily erased. But he is also well aware that it could go just the other way.
Kligerman hopes his Patrick Donahue-led team can find additional speed in their race cars for the final three races in the regular season–and more importantly for the Playoffs.
“It all feels the same. It’s so close,” he said. “It can happen with a stage, essentially. We just gotta keep doing what we are doing. We scored stage points for all stages today. That’s a big deal for us. We are the king of 11th place.
“We were close to finishing 11th in two of those stages. I was going to spin someone out to try and not finish 11th. We are doing the right things; we just need a little more. We just need a tenth more every run; we gotta find it.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Formerly Twitter) @Knighter01, IG Threads @TheKnighter01, or email at: cknight@catchfence.com.
