Parker Kligerman handled it better than practically anyone would but this was a moment that could have defined a significant part of his life and certainly his career.
He was just inches from taking the white flag, meaning the next flag would end the race, no matter which flag it is when the caution came out for Leland Honeyman Jr. stuffing his car into a tire barrier. NASCAR officials waited at least 20 seconds to call the caution. Had they waited at least one more, it would have sent Kligerman to Victory Lane.
That would have been the first of his career and would have come just five weeks before the end of his full-time career, a decision he made within the past month with his time at Big Machine Racing coming to a close.
It also would have advanced him into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff semifinal round.
Kligerman ran the best race of his career, taking the lead from the likes of Shane Van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger on a road course, albeit on fresher tires but also successfully defended the position from the best car of the race driven by Sam Mayer.
He stalled out Mayer, who also needed to win to advance, on multiple occasions. The race was decided. It had been won and lost. And NASCAR, which had 19 seconds to call the caution, called it on the 20th. Mayer won the race in overtime.
“This hurts,” Kligerman said. “I said on the cooldown lap, I want to cry, but I won’t, and it’s gotten close a couple times as I think about it. I just, I’ve really loved doing this, and I’ve been so grateful to have the opportunity to be here and to be at this level and to make a career doing this. And I just love the intensity and the pressure. And I really, really wanted that.
“I just felt like that was a poetic — if I could just do one thing, it would have been winning this damn race in that fashion, holding off some of the best in the world in SVG (Shane van Gisbergen), and AJ (Allmendinger), Sam Mayer, who’s a Roval master now. I thought I was driving at the highest level I’ve ever driven, and I didn’t get it done.”
But really, he did, and several of his peers told him that on pit road too.
Van Gisbergen was the first to greet him climbing out of the car. Aric Almirola gave Kligerman a big hug and had words for him. Austin Hill and then Allmendinger all came over to offer words of encouragement.
“That’s pretty cool,” Kligerman said. “Especially guys like Aric and AJ have won Cup races, and Austin Hill won a million races, and SVG, who’s best in the world. You know, that means a lot to have your peers’ respect.
“And you know, I don’t think I raced anyone not cleanly today, but I had to be aggressive. They knew that. But I’ve raced these guys over a whole season – and for years, some of them – and that’s just really cool. I mean, Aric, he had some really nice things that was very touching. And I’m very thankful to have had him come up there because I maybe would have reacted differently. But that was really nice of him to say some really kind things.”
Even Mayer, in his winner’s post-race press conference, conceded that he didn’t want to be the one who denied him that moment, but he had to. That was also his championship pursuit, a chance at defining his own legacy, and no racer is going to accept second in that moment.
“I have so much respect for Parker because he is one of the coolest guys in the garage,” Mayer said. “He’s a really good race-car driver, and he’s driving for a team that the owner, Scott Borchetta, I respect highly. So me in that spot, I’m like, ‘God dang it, really? Am I really going to be behind the 48 on this last restart?’ and all that kind of stuff because, again, I have so much respect for all those guys that work on the race car and the drive and own it.”
Playoff dramatics
That wasn’t the only bit of playoff dramatics on Saturday as Jesse Love claimed the final spot on points over Van Gisbergen but needed to use the bumper on both Preston Pardus and Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap.
He wasn’t proud of that, even if like Mayer, he conceded he felt like he had to do it.
“I didn’t spin anyone out, right,” Love said. “I had to use the bumper and get aggressive and that’s why we have bumpers in this deal but at the same time. I got into Preston over there and I actually look up to him a lot in road racing and stuff, and I don’t feel really great about it, because I learned better than to use the bumper like that but at the same time, I wasn’t going to walk back to the garage and let my team down either.”