Breaking news

NASCAR Cup Daytona 500

Parker Kligerman clinches "bittersweet" Daytona 500 ticket

Parker Kligerman should have been ecstatic making the Daytona 500 field, but his first concern was for his friend Ryan Truex, who didn’t.

Colton Wood

Edited: Feb 15, 2019, 4:22 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Parker Kligerman, Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota Camry Gaunt Brothers Racing / Toyota

Parker Kligerman, Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota Camry Gaunt Brothers Racing

Parker Kligerman, Gaunt Brothers Racing, Toyota Camry Gaunt Brothers Racing / Toyota

Ryan Truex, Tommy Baldwin Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Accell Construction, Inc.

Ryan Truex, Kaulig Racing, Bar Harbor / Sea Watch International Chevrolet Camaro

Brendan Gaughan, Beard Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Beard Oil Distributing / South Point Hotel & Casino

Joey Gase, Motorsports Business Management, Toyota Camry Medic Air Systems Inc / Fan Memories

With help from Toyota teammate Kyle Busch, Kligerman drove past Tyler Reddick with three laps to go in Thursday night’s first Daytona 500 qualifying race and held off Reddick and Truex to qualify for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500.

“First off, I got to thank Kyle Busch, a Toyota teammate,” Kligerman said. “When he fell back out of the draft that was what it took. If we didn’t have him or all that TRD power working together, there was no way I would have been able to pass Tyler Reddick.

“Ryan Truex, man, I hate it for him. He put up a hell of a fight.”

With Kligerman’s 12th-place finish in the first Duel and Brendan Gaughan’s 15th-place finish in the second, Truex was unable to race himself into the Daytona 500.

“This is awesome,” Kligerman said. “This is an amazing feeling. … It’s bittersweet, though, that (Truex is) out. He’s a good friend of mine. He’s one of the most underrated drivers in this sport.”

Knowing his friend’s future in the Daytona 500 was in question, instead of celebrating his monumental achievement, Kligerman consoled his longtime friend.

“We were talking about the fact that we came out of pit lane together,” Kligerman said. “We were riding the draft, he did a good job being up there, we came out of pit lane and it was just us two. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”

Truex finished 14th in Duel 1. After the race, the 26-year-old driver said a brace broke on his windshield during the race.

Read Also:

With help of "lucky charm," Kevin Harvick wins first Daytona Duel

“Once that happened, I felt like my car was pretty draggy, so it’s just hard to suck up like it needed to,” Truex said. “Kind of a freak deal.”

Truex’s only hope to make Sunday’s race was left in Casey Mears’ hands. If Mears finished ahead of Brendan Gaughan and Joey Gase in the second Duel, the Tommy Baldwin Racing driver would be locked into his first-ever Daytona 500.

To Truex’s dismay, Gaughan finished ahead of Mears and Gase, and secured the final transfer spot.

“I swear to God I don’t think I’ve ever had butterflies this big in almost 10 years,” Gaughan said. “I was trying to play it cool for (crew chief) Darren (Shaw). Tried to keep everything chill. This is the most nervous I’ve been coming to a race in almost a decade.”

After the race, team owner Richard Childress sought Gaughan out on pit road and congratulated the 43-year-old driver.

“The last four laps,” Gaughan said, “I just kept looking – ‘Is Corey (LaJoie) going to try something? Is Casey going to go with him?’ I’ve never smelt more tire smoke, more tire oil – I’ve never smelt more things about to be a catastrophe in my life that weren’t really there.

“I haven’t felt like this since I was a teenager in this sport.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Joey Logano uses last-lap pass to win second Duel at Daytona

Next article Kyle Busch tops Friday's first NASCAR Cup practice at Daytona

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

2 h

Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

5 h

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

5 h

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 5 h

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts