NASCAR race control brutally tormented Parker Kligerman during Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at the Charlotte Roval.
Kligerman was comfortably leading the race on the penultimate lap when Leland Honeyman suffered a tire failure and his car slid into and under a tire barrier. There was no way Honeyman could drive his car out from under the tires, so a warning was inevitable.
But NASCAR waited. And waited. And waited a few more seconds. And apparently waited for Kligerman to get the white flag at the finish. After Kligerman crossed the line to start his final lap, cameras showed the caution lights had been illuminated by NASCAR officials.
If there is a caution on the last lap, the race is over. In this case, Kligerman would have won. But the caution didn’t come out on the final lap. The lights came on when Kligerman’s car was just a few meters from the finish.
Because Kligerman had not officially started the white flag lap, the race was extended with a two-lap restart. Kligerman lost the lead to Sam Mayer at Turn 7 on the first lap after the restart and faded to sixth by the time the race was over.
The win ensured that Mayer would advance to the penultimate round of the play-offs and also meant that Kligerman would be eliminated from the play-offs.
It was immediately unclear why NASCAR waited so long to issue the warning for Honeyman’s car. There is a millisecond delay from the moment NASCAR officials press the warning button and the moment the lights around the track come on. But that doesn’t excuse why NASCAR officials waited about 15 seconds after fans watching at home saw Honeyman’s car on the TV broadcast.
The caution wasn’t triggered by NASCAR officials in this niftily edited eight-second clip of Honeyman’s crashed car, which NASCAR posted to social media.
The race should have started again. Simple and clear. NASCAR holding the caution flag until Kligerman took the white flag would have been a race-rigging maneuver. But waiting so long – and for Kligerman to be so close to the white flag – was unnecessarily cruel for a driver whose full-time career ends after this season.
Kligerman, who also worked as a broadcaster for NBC in recent years, will leave the Xfinity Series at the end of the season. He has made more than 115 starts in his career and finished 10th in the standings a season ago with a pair of second-place finishes. It’s entirely possible that Saturday’s race at the Roval will be the closest thing to an Xfinity Series win. And even if we all know Kligerman lost the race in overtime, it’s hard not to feel terrible for him considering how NASCAR waited so long to issue the caution.
