Parker Kligerman will step away from full-time motorsports competition at the end of the season and will likely have a chance to race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship should he close out on a playoff berth over the next two weeks.
The 34-year-old, who splits time as a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for Big Machine Racing and NBC Sports analyst and pit road reporter, detailed that decision on his The Money Lap podcast with fellow racer and co-host Landon Cassill.
“It’s not a small decision and it wasn’t made overnight,” Kilgerman said. “There were a lot of months of deliberating and going down the one path and the other, and back and forth, but I will say there was one seminal moment, back in June after the Portland race, before Sonoma, because we all stay out there.
“I went for a run, and this will sound wildly cliché, but went for a run and ended up on the top of this mountain and I just had this moment where I said to myself, ‘I think I’m good, like I think I want to finish this year out and see what’s next.’
“So I ended up calling my girlfriend and telling her and she was like, ‘that’s pretty powerful, are you sure,’ and I ended up going back and forth, and was like, ‘maybe that’s not the case and I should keep doing this; let’s keep going.”
But that wasn’t where he ultimately landed after three months of this.
“To be entirely transparent,” he continued. “It’s been a very unique journey in terms of getting to full-time, having part-time rides, working TV and back to full-time. But so much of that was me wanting to get to the top, to get to the Cup Series, the eventual goal, and it became apparent for multiple reasons that this was not going to happen.
“I just found myself thinking, ‘Okay I’ve done this, and I’ve not been nearly as successful as I wanted to be, of course.’ As I think about it now, I think Ive done 257 and I’ve only won three so haven’t been as good as I’ve wanted to be but I think that just started to sit in my mind a little bit.”
This was the time to reach that decision because this is around the point of the scheduled where teams and drivers start to work out contracts for the next season.
“I started to talk to Scott (Borchetta, team owner) and told him I think I’m ready for the next chapter,” Kligerman said. :I don’t exactly know what that is right now. There’s a lot of opportunities on the TV side and that will be something I want to pursue and be a part of. I’m not really pressuring myself to figure that out. I think right now, going back to the racing side, I’m focused on what I’m doing right now, performing at a really high level, championship racing.
“Bristol is a great track for us, a lot of the playoff tracks are good for us. My focus is making the championship four and ending out on top and hopefully I can make that happen.”
Kligerman is still young yet but also has chased this lifestyle for a very long time.
“I did get a little introspective at realizing I stepped in a go kart for the first time 22 years ago and I’ve literally been paid to drive race cars for 15 years,” Kligerman said. “I told my team yesterday, and the truck driver was like ‘you really shouldn’t’ and I’m like ‘buddy’ it’s his second year, really new to this, and I was like ‘bud I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and this wasn’t a fly by night thing.’
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“I was thinking back, you know, when you start something, trying to become a race car driver, all you can think about is the great passes, the wins, the championships and how you’re going to be the best ever. Now, reaching this point, it seems so far out that it will never happen .. I’ve talked to a couple of people, that had the chance to choose to retire, and they say you never really know, you just knew. I just knew.”
Kligerman still wants to race a little, and he certainly doesn’t want to leave the sport, but take this time to explore the wider world of motorsports that he has this tremendous passion for.
“I hope to run some races, Trucks at Lime Rock next year, I would love to be in that race,” Kligerman said. “I do want to go explore the larger motorsports world, all the things that interest me, I think this is such a diverse sport that comes in so many different sights, smells and sounds, and is so different and I want to explore that.
“I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I do know I’ll keep doing this podcast if you’ll keep doing it with me.”