Kligerman Finishes 13th at Chicagoland Speedway
July 10, 2010
JOLIET, Ill. (July 9, 2010) – Parker Kligerman, driver of the No. 42 Team 42 Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished 13th in the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday night.
Kligerman, who is competing in a limited Nationwide Series schedule this season, started 25th for the scheduled 200-lap race and quickly noted that the No. 42 Dodge was tight in the center of the corners. A long green-flag run ensued and Kligerman fell one lap down to the leaders on lap 44.
The team used the first pit stop of the race to make adjustments to the race car. Pitting under green-flag conditions on lap 50, the Team 42 crew made adjustments to the race car in hopes of alleviating the tight-handling condition that was plaguing the No. 42 Dodge. When pit stops cycled through, Kligerman was running in 21st place, one lap down to the leaders.
At the midpoint of the race, Kligerman was running in the 20th position after opting to “wave around” under caution in order to return to the lead lap. As a result, the No. 42 team was off sequence on pit stops with the majority of field and was forced to pit road under green-flag conditions for service on lap 114. Once all cars made pit stops laps later, Kligerman remained in 20th place, one lap down.
With just over 50 laps to go, Kligerman came to pit road under caution for four tires, fuel and service. Still running in the 20th spot, the No. 42 team employed pit strategy during a series of late-race cautions to return to the lead lap. With the stage set for a green-white-checkered flag finish, Kligerman restarted the race in the 19th position and advanced six spots in two laps to earn a 13th-place finish in his first NASCAR start at Chicagoland Speedway.
Penske Racing teammates Justin Allgaier and Brad Keselowski finished the race in 10th place and 21st place, respectively.
"We started off pretty good tonight, the car was just real tight in the heat,” said Kligerman. “When the sun went down, we got a little bit better with our Dodge Charger but just couldn't get it great for the whole run. We kept working on the car to get it looser and we probably had a 15th-place car. We didn't run as well as we wanted, but it was a solid performance overall."