Year after year, the Camping World Truck Series produces some of the most exciting racing of the entire NASCAR season when they visit the Talladega Superspeedway.
That didn’t change Saturday afternoon, especially in the closing seven laps of the race.
With help from Kurt Busch, Jason White was showing the way up until 5 laps to go when James Buescher was on the receiving end of a push from Ty Dillon to take over the race lead.
From there, it was just about anyone’s guess as to what would happen next as the madness of Talladega intensified to a new level.
After the pack of trucks became a four-wide parking lot, Buescher and Dillon locked together and pulled away from the back. That was until Parker Kligerman partnered up with Johnny Sauter.
Down the backstretch, the two Toyota drivers drafted their way up to the pair of Chevrolet’s, then going side-by-side with the two entering the tri-oval with the white flag in sight.
As the field made their way around the 2.6-mile super speedway for the final time, it was the pair of Kligerman and Sauter taking the lead as Buescher and Dillon made contact which slowed the two.
While the Toyota’s in front had their sights set on victory, absolute chaos ensued behind them which resulted in a six-truck pileup. The crash caused NASCAR to throw the caution flag, which resulted in Kligerman winning Saturday’s Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I can’t thank enough people in this world,” said Kligerman in victory lane. “There’s a ton of people that made it possible to get to this point in my career.”
The win marks the first time in Kligerman’s NASCAR career that he has gone to victory lane. His win also breaks the Truck Series record for most first-time winners in one season with Saturday’s victory by the Connecticut driver marking the eighth time it has happened in 2012.
His win also comes in the 300th start for his team, Red Horse Racing, who hired him prior to the race at Michigan International Speedway in August.
Like any race, a race at Talladega Superspeedway is never easy. With just about everything being out of your control the entire race, it wasn’t any different for Kligerman.
“We fought every single possible thing you could fight today. We had some vibrations, we had a battery go down, no alternator, and we went for it there at the end.
“Thank you to Johnny Sauter, because he made that possible.”
With the victory, Kligerman finds himself fourth on Truck Series points with five races remaining, 31-points back of the lead.
Holding the points lead would be Dillon with the next race being at Martinsville Speedway on October 27th.
Fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola Unofficial Results
1: Parker Kligerman
2: Johnny Sauter
3: James Buescher
4: Ty Dillon
5: Timothy Peters
6: Ryan Blaney
7: Kurt Busch
8: German Quiroga
9: Tim George Jr.
10: Cale Gale
11: Ryan Sieg
12: Bryan Silas
13: Cole Whitt
14: Joey Coulter
15: Norm Benning
16: Clay Greenfield
17: Ryan Hackett
18: Matt Crafton
19: Miguel Paludo
20: Jason White
21: Chris Jones
22: David Starr
23: Rick Crawford
24: Justin Lofton
25: John Wes Townley
26: Aric Almirola
27: Jennifer Jo Cobb
28: Ron Hornaday Jr.
29: Chris Fontaine
30: Donnie Neuenberger
31: Nelson Piquet Jr.
32: Johnny Chapman
33: Todd Bodine
34: Ross Chastain
35: Mike Harmon
36: Brandon Knupp
