Kligerman Bounces Off the Wall, Finishes Top-10 at Charlotte

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

CONCORD, N.C. – A very up and down day resulted in a Top-10 finish for Parker Kligerman. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver ran well in the underfunded Henderson Motorsports No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet Silverado at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The North Carolina Education Lottery marked Kligerman’s fourth race of the season. In the final 10-lap run to the finish, he got caught in the middle, beating and banging with Ben Rhodes, Brett Moffitt, and Stewart Friesen. The 27-year-old narrowly avoided the drifting truck of Justin Haley before settling into the seventh position. Kligerman ultimately took the checkered flag in that position.

Kligerman’s eventful seemed to take a turn around lap 100. While battling hard with Friesen, Rhodes, and others, he slid into the outside wall. Kligerman’s Chevrolet bounced along the wall, causing minor damage. However, it took his momentum away, dropping him out of the top-10. A caution for debris on lap 113 gave the Westport, CT native a chance to rebound and get fresher tires.

“We went from the back to the front, and then back to front, back to front,” Kligerman explained. “I think we did that three or four times. We passed a lot of trucks tonight, but we had some crazy vibrations at times that I had never felt before. They were just horrible. That middle run to the end of the second stage, I thought the driveshaft was going to come through the well there and rip through the truck. The vibration was insane. We just fought through it. Chris Carrier and everyone on this Food Country USA team did a really good job.”

“We had good adjustments, and we kind of blitzed them there with that semi-new set of tires. I only did a couple laps on them and we were able to pass a ton of trucks. I think we could have got to the top-five obviously. I just had one move there. In trucks, it’s like you get three laps on a restart to make every move that you want to make. And from there it’s one or two trucks that you’re going to pass.”

The seventh-place finish was the first top-10 finish of the season for Kligerman. It was also the 34^th of his career and comes in his 72^nd career start. The seventh-place finish is also just the eighth top-10 for Henderson Motorsports in the organizations’ 45^th Truck Series start. In 12 total starts for Henderson Motorsports, Kligerman has earned six top-10 finishes, including a win at Talladega Superspeedway last year.

That P7 finish look// Had an incredible recovery after having two separate massive vibrations in the car and having to come from the back multiple times. All the way to the front, only to get sent back again. Great effort by this whole team, it’s a pleasure to take a small team like this and consistently beat massive high budget organizations on a fraction of their budget.

A post shared by Parker Kligerman (@pkligerman) on May 18, 2018 at 9:38pm PDT