Parker Kligerman: Red Horse Racing Homestead-Miami Speedway Race Report

Looking to close out the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season with a solid statement, Parker Kligerman and the No. 7 Red Horse Racing team traveled to Homestead-Miami Speedway with a brand new Toyota Tundra chassis and the confidence necessary to contend for a win. Showing his speed by capturing the pole position for the Ford EcoBoost 200, Kligerman remained in the top-five for the majority of the evening before slipping through traffic on the final restart and coming home with an eighth place finish.

 

Topping the speed charts during most of Friday’s practice session, Kligerman followed up his efforts during qualifying by capturing his second pole of the season, both coming since his move to Red Horse Racing in August. Relinquishing the lead after the first few laps of the race, Kligerman settled into position inside the top-five and remained there through the first green flag run while searching for a good line on the high side of the track to help the tight handling condition of his Camp Horsin’ Around Toyota Tundra.  

 

 After taking four tires and receiving his first round of adjustments under the first caution of the night on lap 37, Kligerman rejoined the field in the fourth position and pushed forward to the second spot as the field engaged in three wide racing on the restart. As the field settled after the next caution and restart just a few laps later, Kligerman resided in fifth and reported to crew chief Chad Kendrick his Tundra was still a little tight, but the changes were helping. His comments were reflected in his lap times near the end of the fuel run, as he consistently clicked off the fastest times in the field.

 

Under the lone green flag pit stop of the night on lap 90, Kligerman received another round of changes and promptly returned to the field to maintain his top-five running position. The third caution period came on lap 106, giving Kendrick the opportunity to provide Kligerman with four fresh Goodyear Wrangler tires for the final stages of the race. With some competitors choosing to take only two tires, Kligerman restarted from the eighth position and immediately went to work.

 

A multi-truck incident involving several trucks in front of Kligerman ignited just before the final lap of the race, halting the field on the backstretch under the red flag. While avoiding the incident, Kligerman’s No. 7 Tundra was clipped by another competitor and sustained damage to the right rear quarter panel. Though he was able to continue through the green-white-checkered finish, the damage affected the handling of his Tundra and relegated him to a seventh place finish.

 

 “Our No. 7 Tundra was top-three to start off and throughout the night and I really felt like we were a top-three truck tonight. We fought a tight handling condition most of the night, and the cautions near the end of the race really didn’t fall in our favor. But Chad Kendrick and this crew showed like they always do what kind of speed we have and it was really cool to start on the pole. It just wasn’t our night; and after the damage from that last incident it was hard to make up any more ground on the final restart,” Kligerman concluded.

 

Kligerman closes out his sophomore season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with one win, two poles, eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. He also finished fifth in the final championship point standings, 30 points behind first place.

 

“There are two parts to my season.  There were 11 races before coming over to this No. 7 Toyota Tundra team, and 11 races here now.  If I’d done what I did here at Red Horse these last 11 races in the first 11 races, we’d be the champions right now by a long shot, I’m sure of that.  I’m proud of all these guys on this team and what they’ve done for me the second part of this season; they’ve helped me get my passion back for racing again. I can’t thank them enough.”

 

RHR PR