Thursday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Awards brought out the best in NASCAR – best dressed that is.
Here are photos of the 16 drivers who made the playoffs this past season as they graced the red carpet at Wynn Las Vegas:
In a special edition of Scan All, Parker Kligerman takes the fan through a guided tour of his 2018 season.
“(I am) hoping to give you guys a better idea of what a small team like mine goes through on a weekly basis,” Kligerman said. “We focus on quality over quantity.”
While NASCAR America’s Kligerman has not had many chances to race this year, he has made the most of those opportunities. An accident at Daytona International Speedway in the Camping World Truck Series season opener kept him from contending for a good finish, but he almost cracked the top 10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway the following week – finishing 11th in the 32-truck field.
“Our goal: we show up, we feel like it’s a race we can win.”
“You’re doing a great job man” spotter Earl Barban told him during the opening laps at Dover International Speedway as Kligerman marched toward the lead. “Move that corner back a little bit, your drive off is a lot better than most.”
The advice was productive. Kligerman went on to lead 11 laps in the Jegs 200. He was still running with the leaders in second when the No. 75 broke an oil cooler and retired on lap 86.
He went to Charlotte Motor Speedway two races later and finished seventh – his first and so far only top 10 in Trucks this year.
Strong runs in the Truck series opened up another opportunity to race the Coke 600 in the Gaunt Brothers’ No. 96.
Battling brake issues and after a trip into the wall, he brought the car home 27th in his first Cup series race since 2014.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we made it to the end,” Kligerman said over the radio after the race.
Kligerman earned a second Cup race in the No. 96 this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.
For more, watch the video above.
Kyle Larson scored his second Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek win in three nights. Larson won at Wayne County Speedway on Monday. Andrew Palker was second.
The victory is Larson’s eighth in the All Star Circuit of Champions.
Xfinity driver Christopher Bell was fifth Monday. Kasey Kahne placed 17th. Tony Stewart finished 24th in the 26-car field.
Larson won at Eldora Speedway on Saturday night.
Ohio Speedweek continues Tuesday at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.
With the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series taking Father’s Day weekend off, the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series took center stage at Iowa Speedway and put on a pair of shows that had drivers and NASCAR America analysts asking for more.
Late-race battles for the lead with Noah Gragson‘s unsuccessful last-lap pass on Brett Moffitt and Christopher Bell’s near miss at closing the distance on Justin Allgaier is something that has been missing from the Cup series for much of the season, and the action had a lot to do with the configuration of the speedway.
“That’s why this racetrack has become so popular,” Parker Kligerman said on Monday’s edition of NASCAR America. “Because it’s allowing this multi-groove racing like we’ve seen. And it’s got everyone discussing – kind of like Brad Keselowski was saying – why don’t we bring the Cup cars there? It would be awesome.”
Iowa Speedway was built with inspiration from Richmond Raceway and both tracks have characteristics of a short track and a speedway. It is something that Jeff Burton believes the sports needs to embrace.
“There is no doubt that this style of racetrack is what we need more of,” Burton said. “The sport needs more of it. And all this effort we’ve been talking about with the All-Star package. All that is an effort to try and create races like we saw on Saturday and on Sunday.”
For more, watch the video above.
Today’s episode of NASCAR America airs from 5-6 p.m. ET on NBCSN and recaps the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series races at Iowa Speedway.
Carolyn Manno hosts with Parker Kligerman in Stamford, Connecticut. Jeff Burton joins them from Burton’s Garage.
On today’s show:
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Click here at 5 p.m. ET to watch live via the stream.
