Parker Kligerman began Friday's Wawa 250 in Daytona Beach, Fla., as a color television commentator for The CW's coverage of the Xfinity Series race. That positioning gave no hint of where he'd end it.
With driver Connor Zilisch tapping out in the middle of the race to attend to his broken collarbone, Kligerman climbed into Zilisch's No. 88 car for JR Motorsports—and promptly piloted it to victory, making him the first relief driver to win a race at any national level of NASCAR since 2007.
That year, a late-arriving Denny Hamlin jumped in for Aric Almirola in the Busch Series's AT&T 250 in West Allis, Wis.—winning the race and enraging the latter driver. No relief driver has won in the Cup Series since Darrell Waltrip relieved an ill Donnie Allison in Talladega, Ala., in 1977.
Unlike in '07, Zilisch was grateful to Kligerman.
"It's just not worth the risk to put myself in danger of having a big wreck and re-injuring something that's so freshly injured," Zilisch said after yielding the car following a caution. "I'm glad I was able to hand it to Parker. There's not many guys I'd rather have than him. I'm excited to watch him."
Zilisch, not Kligerman, will be credited with the win; Kligerman still has never won from 122 Xfinity Series starts. On Friday, racing fans learned that fact is not for a lack of trying.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Parker Kligerman Helps Get First National NASCAR Win for a Relief Driver in 18 Years.
