Parker Kligerman during driver introductions at Road America (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Parker Kligerman scored a second-place finish Saturday afternoon in the Road America 180 at Road America.
The weekend did not start off quite as it ended for Kligerman and the No. 48 team as the driver qualified 17th. However, he averaged the eighth fastest lap time in Practice 1 throughout 13 laps around the Wisconsin road course.
Kligerman proved he could have notable speed after working his way up to 11th by the end of Stage 1. By the end of Stage 2, he had worked his way inside the top 10 to score eighth-place points. After a series of late-race cautions, Kligerman found himself battling with Sam Mayer (No. 1) and Sage Karam (No. 24) for the race win. Kligerman got past Karam on the final lap, but Mayer passed Kligerman exiting the final corner to take the checkered flag.
After the race, the Greenwich, Connecticut native processed the last several laps of the race and congratulated his opponent, Sam Mayer, who secured his first Xfinity Series win at his home race track.
“Those last couple of laps were crazy,” Kligerman said. “We all hit the speedy dry there in [Turns] 13 and 14. I got the lead but into 14, there was so much speedy dry and I thought the 1 was gone at that point. The 24 went off crazy. And so I thought, alright, I just gotta sorta not blow this corner. And there was more grip to the inside. I started sliding out, the 1 got me. I tried to get him. Couldn’t get to him. But congrats to Sam. That’s a big deal up here in Wisconsin.
Kligerman battling for the race win in Wisconsin (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)
“To start 17th, I thought I was probably the worst racecar driver in the world,” Kligerman added. “To get a shot late, that’s all you could ask for. This whole Big Machine Racing team has been working hard. We’ve been close multiple times. If we keep putting ourselves in position like this, even leading for half a corner, one of these days, we’re gonna get the checkered flag. I really wanted this one.”
With just six races to go before the playoffs and no wins this season alongside just four top fives, Kligerman earned a solid points day to try and spark some momentum. Saturday’s leaves Kligerman 13th in points, 25 below Riley Herbst at the cutline. After the race, he felt good about the momentum a solid race like this brought to him and his team.
“Confidence is the key word. It helps my confidence and the team,” Kligerman said. “We made some pretty big adjustments from practice and qualifying into today. We threw a lot at this racer and everything we did was the right, correct direction. That’s really cool for me, the team to understand that we can take that to the next road courses. Some momentum is never bad. We’ll take this and we’re going to get that checkered flag soon.”
