DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Delivering the winning push to Parker Kligerman at Daytona International Speedway carried special meaning for Justin Allgaier.
It wasn‘t only because Kligerman had suddenly become a one-off teammate at JR Motorsports, jumping in as the relief driver for Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet.
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The winning moment also felt full circle for a pair of drivers who have had their differences in the Xfinity Series, notably in a September 2023 race at Texas Motor Speedway when Kilgerman and Allgaier collided while racing for the lead.
“It’s cool because at the end of the day, Parker and I have actually probably had a better relationship since we don’t race together, but we’re a lot the same,” said Allgaier, who celebrated with Kilgerman in Victory Lane late Friday night at Daytona. “We came through some weird opportunities, we both kind of got stuck in a really weird bubble when we came into the sport, and we both had to fight really hard to stay in the sport. It sent us different directions, but at the same time, I think we both kind of had that little bit of a chip on our shoulder of how we got to where we were at.
“And we’ve talked a lot, and we’ve had a lot of good conversations. Tonight was different in the fact that JR Motorsports firesuit that he’s wearing, and the effort that I know that team’s put in. We’re all pushing hard to make our company finish one, two, three, four every week.”
It was a 1-2-3 finish for JR Motorsports as Zilisch was credited with the win ahead of Sammy Smith and Allgaier, with the 19-year-old Zilisch starting the race before Kligerman finished in his stead as Zilisch nursed a broken collarbone.
Kligerman thanked Allgaier several times for talking him through what it would be like to drive a JRM Chevy on a superspeedway.
“He played a very, very big role in getting this done as a teammate,” Kligerman said.
During a pre-race meeting, he tried to convince Allgaier he would return the favor if possible.
“I was like hey man you got a friend in me in pushing it, and I don’t think he really believed me,” Kligerman said. “I was like, ‘No, I truly mean it.’ Then we got late in Stage 3, and we were at the top, and I didn’t want to leave Justin hanging and so it kind of stuck us in second when we probably could have got the lead.”
The move earned an admonition from team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the radio under an ensuing yellow.
“Dale said, ‘Why are you not taking the lead?‘ I was like, ‘Well, I’m trying to be a good teammate here to keep (Allgaier) with me,‘ but I think I knew that when we came down to it that he could be a really good teammate there, which he was,” Kligerman said.
No hard feelings after all for two drivers who actually were together at Team Penske more than 15 years ago when Kilgerman was beginning his NASCAR career.
Their paths have had parallel moments since then. Both had ill-fated attempts at Cup before returning to Xfinity. Last year, Allgaier won the championship while Kilgerman decided to end his full-time racing career to focus on being a TV analyst.
“I think what happened to us in the last two years was unfortunate because he was excited I was racing full time again,” Kilgerman said. “So we’ve definitely had our moments.
“I have a lot of respect for Justin Allgaier, and I could see the way he handles himself at this race team and why he’s such a good leader, why he’s been here so long and I also respect his talent and ability behind the wheel because you know that it takes serious talent to have longevity he has and have the wins he has and now the championship and everything he’s done. I think it was cool though for us to kind of be in that position, just knowing our past and how young we were when we first started at Penske and first met.”
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