This past Friday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway had 1.092 million viewers on The CW, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. Xfinity viewership topped 1 million for the fifth consecutive race on The CW, continuing the strong viewership trend this season.
This particular race was up 33 percent from last year’s Daytona Xfinity race on USA Network. Parker Kligerman took the checkered flag Friday night at Daytona, taking over for the injured Connor Zilsich inside the No. 88 JR Motorports Chevrolet.
Zilisch, who recently underwent surgery to repair his broken collarbone, started the race and then hopped out of the car at the first caution. Kligerman came out of the bullpen to lead 12 laps, piloting the car to its seventh victory of the season.
While Kligerman was driving the car at the end, the win is technically Zilisch’s. Kligerman, who has never officially won a Xfinity race, was OK with that. He allowed Zilisch to take the trophy, just as long he got to keep the checkered flag.
“I didn’t expect to get a call from Dale Jr. on a day I was leaving to go on vacation,” Kligerman said from Victory Lane. “I hate the circumstances for Connor. He’s an amazing, generational talent, and I feel honored to have gotten the call… Thank you to Justin Allgaier. He was a real teammate — we go way back and that meant a lot. And Sammy Smith gave us some great pushes so that helped a ton.
“It’s such a me thing that this will not be on Racing Reference at all.”
Parker Kligerman made it on Racing Reference
Racing Reference made sure to give Kligerman some of the credit. “Don’t worry [Kligerman] – we gave you recognition where it’s due,” the stat website wrote on X.
Kligerman appreciated that one. Now, anyone who didn’t watch will know Zilisch had some help.
“Hahaha,” Kligerman responded, “thank you.”
Read the full article here
