Parker Kligerman nudges by Zane Smith in tight finish to win NASCAR Camping Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON — In a nip-and-tuck duel, with each in close proximity of the other practically the entire 67-lap race and most notably during the final laps, Parker Kligerman narrowly got over the finish line before Zane Smith by 0.119 seconds to win Saturday's NASCAR Camping Truck Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 race at Mid-Ohio.
Carson Hocevar came in third, Stewart Friesen finished fourth and Christian Eckes fifth.
It was a race filled with plenty of drama as Kligerman, driving his No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Chevrolet, and the current points leader Smith trying to keep up with each other from the start all the way to the end.
It was Kligerman's first Camping Truck Series win in five years (Talladega in 2017) and third victory of his Truck Series career (Talladega in 2012).
"I hope the fans enjoyed that race because I was totally blacked out," said an exuberant Kligerman. "Zane and I had a hell of a race. He kept it clean the whole time. What a cool thing to finally win a road course. It's taken me over a decade. It's just an amazing day. This hasn't sunk in yet."
The 31-year-old Kligerman was in full control most of the way, as he led 56 of the 67 laps on the road course. Kligerman spoke about the hard-earned victory over Smith, who has the most wins (3) in the Truck Series this year and has been the season's most consistent driver, as he heads into the final regular season race in two weeks in prime position to clinch the Camping Truck Series regular season championship.
"We raced each other super clean. He's a hell of a talent. He's on the fast track to winning the cup and he's going to be around for a very long time," said Kligerman, who also earned an extra $50,000 in the final race of the Triple Truck Challenge bonus program. "I felt like I passed him clean. I did it multiple times in the race. That's how I race.
"Because the series has become so close, it's taking more aggression and me being more aggressive at times but I've never been a driver that's going to knock someone off. I wanna race you straight up and I wanna beat you. The fans got a cool show because we did that."
Kligerman, who is a part-time driver, credited his Henderson Racing team for its efforts given the limited resources it has compared to the other racing teams it competes with in the Truck Series.
"It's just a testament that if you put a group of really talented human beings together what they can achieve," said Kligerman, who has worked as a NASCAR commentator on NBC since 2015. "We pick our tracks, races and places we feel like I can make a difference. That's road courses, short tracks and super speedways.
"That's how we pick them because we have to be smarter but really cerebral in how we go about doing things. We're part-time for a reason. We do this on a fraction of a budget against the teams were up against. We don't have the funding of a full team. We got to maximize our resources, do the best we can and make sure the places we go, we have our ducks in a row. It's rewards like this that make it huge for us."
Kligerman made known that he would love to race full-time next season to compete for the Truck Series championship and that racing is still his passion.
"I'm 31 but I know I have a lot left in me," said Kligerman. "I've launched businesses before, done the TV thing, hosted TV shows and did a lot of different things in a short amount of time. But when you're a racer and you don't race, you're trying to replace it. It's just in you. I thought in my late 20s that maybe I could put it aside because it wasn't going well, but I realize no matter what I do racing is what I love to do."
jsimpson@gannett.com
Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Parker Kligerman wins NASCAR Camping Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio
