Parker Kligerman stepped away from full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competition after the 2024 season. He has spent the 2025 season working as a commentator for The CW but ahead of this past Friday’s Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway, he got a call from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The JR Motorsports co-owner asked Kligerman if he would be the relief driver for Connor Zilisch at Daytona, to which the 35-year-old said yes. Kligerman ended the night in Victory Lane, piloting the No. 88 Chevrolet to its seventh victory of the season. Kligerman’s win was popular in the garage, and he earned a shoutout from Denny Hamlin on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. Hamlin praised Earnhardt for giving Kligerman an opportunity.
“Really happy for Parker and it’s awesome for him to get that call from Dale Jr. You know what I love about Dale Jr.? Obviously, the Xfinity Series, if we’re being honest, it’s primarily made of buy your ride drivers and most of your top teams have a handful of those on their roster. But Dale always seems to have one car that he’s trying to give the other guys a shot. The local short track guys or whoever it might be, trying to give them opportunities to showcase their talents so that maybe a sponsor has interest in them. He did it with Josh Berry… next thing you know, he got a ride at Cup.
“So, Dale Jr. and Kelley are doing a great job at JR Motorsports of giving that stepping stone for those drivers. There’s a balance, they got to run their business, so you’re going to have some pay on your roster and some that you feel like you can have on natural talent. It’s good to see Parker get that call because my point was, he picked who he thought could win in that car at that track. He’s like I’m going to go pick the best available driver — and that being Parker Kligerman — to replace Zilisch during the race. Parker is one of the better superspeedway racers in the Xfinity Series over the last few years.”
Parker Kligerman can still do this and do it well
Kligerman is clearly still one of Xfinity’s better drivers. He showed that in 2023 and ’24, finishing 10th in the points standings each season. So, why doesn’t he race full-time? Hamlin said it has everything to do with the system. Kligerman makes more money commentating about the series, rather than driving in it.
“I bet a lot of people wonder why he doesn’t run Xfinity. Guys, this is a prime example of how broken this business model is,” Hamlin said. “The guy makes more talking about the drivers than actually being a driver. That is the true system and how broke it is that he could have a ride, but it doesn’t pay anything. He would be taking a massive pay cut by being a star in the Xfinity Series versus being an announcer for the Xfinity Series. That is the crux and the problem that will continue to hamper the best talent and the best opportunities of making it in the Xfinity Series.
“Many of the rides are going to be taken up by pay guys and there’s just not going to be that many opportunities. You’re going to need to something like this where one of the top teams is going to be OK with two or three pay drivers and maybe I got one seat for whoever I actually want, whoever I actually think is pretty good. It’s a tough way to go.”
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