DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –– Entering the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday (Aug. 19), AJ Allmendinger was riding a streak of three top 10s.
It’s been a much-needed rebound for Allmendinger, who has yet to find any real consistency this season. He surprisingly hasn’t found victory lane this year, putting his streak of five straight Xfinity seasons with a win in jeopardy.
However, at Daytona, Allmendinger found himself with his first legitimate shot to win in what seemed like a long time. He finished third and fourth in the stages and rarely left the top five all night. Despite Justin Allgaier sweeping the stages, it was Allmendinger who led the most laps, pacing the field 35 times in the 102-lap event.
As the field roared past the start-finish line to begin the final lap, he found himself second behind Ryan Truex with help from Parker Kligerman, who worked with Allmendinger the majority of the night. As they entered turn 1, Kligerman found himself with a huge shove from Chandler Smith and ducked below Allmendinger.
What happened next is up for debate. There is an argument that Kligerman side drafted too close and turned the No. 16, but there’s also an argument that Allmendinger threw a bad block.
Either way, it sent Allmendinger spinning.
As Allmendinger slid back up the track and into the turn 1 wall hard, Kligerman was able to hold on for a third-place finish as the caution came out.
Allmendinger was OK after his hard hit, but it was clear he was frustrated with the No. 48 as he emerged from the care center.
“I’m just proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “That was a fast Campers Inn RV Chevy. Had a shot to win and didn’t.”
When asked if he attempted a block, Allmendinger continued to thank his team.
“I’m just proud of the team, man. That’s all I can say.”
Despite the great run, Allmendinger felt all momentum he may have had coming into the white flag was lost.
“There’s no momentum right now,” he said tersely.
Kligerman then told Frontstretch his side of the contact after the race, maintaining that Allmendinger blocked him into turn 1, which led to the spin.
“White flag through the tri-oval, I pushed the [No.] 16 and the {No.] 20 out,” Kligerman said. “The [No. 81 of Chandler Smith] pushed me hard enough that it gave me a monster run at the same time. And I was like, ‘If we clear the bottom, I’m going.’ The [No.] 16 just tried to follow and it was too late.
Despite placing the blame on Allmendinger, Kligerman felt bad that he was taken out, because the two had worked together all night and were the best shot at taking down Truex for the race win.
“We worked great together,” Kligerman said. “We never talked about it, we just linked up and it just became apparent that we could combat the Toyotas if we stuck together, and that’s what we did.”
Despite the clash with Allmendinger, Kligerman remains focused on playoff racing after a spoiler modification penalty earlier in the week saw the team lose 20 driver points and five playoff points.
“We got a lot of stage points, which allowed me to be a little bit more aggressive,” Kligerman said. “We came in here after the penalty 16 up, now we leave, I think, 44 up. My strategy was to get great stage points so I could get aggressive in the third stage.”
Time will tell whether or not Allmendinger will pay back Kligerman down the road. But with Kligerman battling for a playoff spot and Allmendinger firmly in the playoffs on points as it stands, Kligerman’s noise could fall on deaf ears.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
Kligerman uses his bumper a lot more than he should and causes a lot of wrecks. The 16 joins a list of cars Dilloned by Kligerman.