Parker Kligerman answered the call from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports earlier this week to fill in for Connor Zilisch in the Daytona Xfinity Series summer race. Zilisch was cleared to race by doctors on Thursday following the No. 88 driver breaking his collarbone after falling from his car in victory lane at Watkins Glen and the subsequent surgery. Zilisch, who leads the Xfinity Series points standings, needed to start at Daytona, but to focus on healing, the team decided to replace Zilisch earlier on with Kligerman, who went on to finish the race.
Kligerman was rewarded with his first-ever win in an Xfinity series race, winning the race for Zilisch.
This was the fourth driver/crew chief pairing to win in the No. 88 this year, with Connor Zilisch and Mardy Lindley winning five races together, Zilisch winning one race with Earnhardt filling in on top the stand, and Kyle Larson and Lindley winning together when Zilisch was out at Texas Motor Speedway following his crash in the closing laps at Talladega.
Kligerman led earlier on in the second stage and cycled back to the front at the close. Kligerman was on the front row for the Overtime restart and was pushed to the lead by temporary teammate Justin Allgaier. Austin Hill and Leland Honeyman were lined up on the outside line, made contact, and fell back. Kligerman pulled away and was leading by more than a car's length when a big crash on the final lap brought out a race-ending caution.
Kligerman's win, even if he won't be credited with it on 'Racing Reference', is a moment of redemption after the part-time driver was disqualified from his Truck win at Daytona this February.
"It’s such a me thing that this will not be on racing reference at all," Kligerman told The CW Sports. "I’m still going to take it as a win."
Last year, Kligerman was mere feet from taking the white flag at the Charlotte Roval when a caution set up a Green-White-Checkers finish that he ultimately lost.
Kligerman and Zilisch led a JR Motorsports 1-2-3 victory, with Allgaier finishing second and Sammy Smith third. Smith won the first stage and Allgaier the second, with both stages finishing under caution.
Allgaier thought that he could bring one final battle to Kligerman, but lost the push from Jesse Love as Love couldn't get to Allgaier in the closing laps.
I wish I knew, I thought we had it, it's really disappointing," Allgaier said. "I thought we had the help that we needed.
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