Parker Kligerman drove the Gaunt Brothers Racing (GBR) Toyota Camry to a 24th-place finish in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.
Kligerman and the No. 96 GBR team maintained a lead-lap status and a top-25 running position despite pitting under green-flag conditions on lap 31 to remove debris from the nose of the car. This alleviated an overheating issue. The entire final stage of the event went caution-free, to Kligerman’s chagrin; his rear grip wasn’t sufficient and his attempts to adjust impacted his rear brakes.
“We came into this race with a goal of running in the top 25 all day and we did that,” said Kligerman. “I probably didn’t do a good job of helping (crew chief Mark) Hillman make the right adjustments and that hurt us on that last run. We had a top-20 car before that and we just didn’t have enough rear grip there at the end. Still, we accomplished a lot, out-racing a lot of big teams, and that’s what we aim to do every time out.”
Kligerman and GBR’s 24th-place finish comes on the heels of a 23rd-place score earlier this summer on the road course at Sonoma Raceway (Calif.).
“Parker did a great job,” said GBR owner Marty Gaunt. “It was a solid day for GBR and a good showing for our partners, Toyota, TRD and Spectra Premium.”
GBR PR
