TALLADEGA, Alabama — NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman led the final two laps and won in overtime to score his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Christopher Bell finished second. Myatt Snider placed third.
Kligerman’s other series victory came in 2012 at Talladega. Just like then, he planted the checkered flag in the frontstretch grass.
“Everything is just a blur,” Kligerman said. “Every move worked perfectly. When I go back and look at it, I’ll look at those moves, some of the hardest to make are when you are in the bottom and you’re running the top five and you don’t really have a partner and you’re trying to stop or block that top lane or get that momentum of that top lane. All I think about these speedway races is literally the last three laps and what I’m going to see out of the right rear of my truck because the move that you make to win these races 90 percent of the time is that.”
MORE: Race results
Kaz Grala, who was involved in an early wreck, and Chase Briscoe, who had mechanical issues early, were eliminated from playoff contention.
Advancing to the Round of 6 are Bell, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Austin Cindric and Nemechek.
Stage 1 winner: Johnny Sauter
Stage 2 winner: Johnny Sauter
How Parker Kligerman won: He avoided issues early, put himself in the right spot and took the lead on the overtime restart to win.
Who had a good day: John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth after being in an accident and avoiding two others later to advance in the playoffs despite entering the race last among the playoff contenders, 14 points out of a transfer spot. … Christopher Bell finished second for his fourth consecutive top-three finish. … Myatt Snider finished a career-best third.
Who had a bad day: Daytona winner Kaz Grala’s playoff hopes ended when he was involved in a crash on Lap 19. Chris Fontaine spun and Grala was involved in an incident when he was hit from behind and sent into the wall. Grala finished 29th. … Chase Briscoe’s truck started smoking on lap 6 and went to the garage on Lap 8 after fluids were leaking. He returned 10 laps down and finished 22nd, nine laps behind the leaders but it wasn’t good enough to advance in the playoffs.
Notable: Parker Kligerman led only three of 95 laps, including the final two.
Quote of the day: “That’s a tough one,’’ Kaz Grala said after a wreck prevented him from advancing to the next round of the playoffs.
Next: Oct. 28 at Martinsville Speedway
