Livescore
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Parker Kligerman was two spots and two turns short of locking his way into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs on Friday night.
The driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet took the yellow and checkered flags third at Daytona International Speedway, with the final of seven caution flags coming in overtime after contact between Kligerman and push-partner AJ Allmendinger sent Allmendinger spinning in Turn 1 to end the race under yellow on the final lap.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona
In one respect, it was an excellent night for Kligerman, who entered the night in 11th out of 12 provisional spots in the Xfinity playoff grid, 16 points above the elimination line. After netting 11 stage points and a third-place finish, Kligerman now bumps down to the final provisional spot — 44 points to the good — with four races left in the regular season. In another respect, Kligerman was just shy of not needing to worry about points at all.
The latter appeared to drive the overriding emotion upon Kligerman’s exit from the vehicle, slamming his fist on the car’s roof and offering a parting expletive trying to process how his plan to score the victory unraveled.
“I knew the whole time without having that (overtime) restart, I wanted to be on the bottom in the last lap,” Kligerman said. “And if I could materialize being the lead car on the bottom, I was gonna take it. I pushed (Allmendinger) out to the 20, cleared the 98 in the bottom, and I thought, OK, I’m going, I don’t care. I moved. He tried to come with me. I was already there. It’s a late block. That happens.
“You know, I would love to see a finish under green, because even with that whole thing, we came through (Turns) 1 and 2 and I had the 98 right on my bumper. And I was like, holy — this is gonna work out. Like, this is exactly how I planned it. And then the caution came out. So I just, I don’t know. I feel like we did everything correct, and still something stupid happened.”
Allmendinger’s disappointment was evident upon being evaluated and released from the infield care center.
“That was a fast Campers Inn RV Chevy and had a shot to win and didn’t,” Allmendinger told reporters. “I’m just proud of the team, man. That’s all I can say.”
Despite the contact, which sent Allmendinger sliding across the asphalt on entry to Turn 1, up the banking and into traffic, Kligerman didn’t believe much could be done differently to avoid the incident.
“I moved off his bump bumper, which maybe could have got him loose at the same time,” Kligerman said. “But the run was materializing. I was getting pushed, so I was gonna take it to bottom, and I could see that I cleared the 98. So I’m not gonna say like, hey, — maybe it’s a late block, but it takes two to tango and all this stuff, and so maybe … it’s probably something I did wrong.”
The better news for Kligerman, of course, is his newfound cushion — if slight — with four races remaining in the regular season. Up next is Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) ahead of Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway to conclude the regular season slate.
MORE: Xfinity standings | Xfinity schedule
It’s a different position for Kligerman than last year’s summer race at Daytona, where points were constantly on his mind in his first full-time campaign with Big Machine Racing.
“That was the highest stress race in my life last year,” Kligerman said. “But the one thing I learned is … I had this whole theory of locking in for 100 laps, and today I can tell you that when I got to (driver) intros, I just shut everything out and then got in the car. And for 100 (laps), I can’t tell you half the stuff that I did in that race because I wasn’t doing it; I was just letting it happen subconsciously, and it was working great. So there’s something to be said about that. Something about Daytona in the summer for 100 laps.
“But it’s a big night for us, obviously, points wise, and puts us in a good position to go after the next few races.”
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