Indianapolis
Race Report
Dueling rallies Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course netted out to a break-even sort of day on the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff bubble.
Parker Kligerman gained a single point in his bid to overtake Sheldon Creed for the final provisional spot in the 12-driver postseason field as both drivers emerged with top-10 finishes in Saturday’s Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts. Both overcame their own dose of adversity to virtually hold serve with four regular-season races remaining.
Kligerman started 12th and raced to take fourth in the opening stage to collect valuable stage points. But an unplanned stop after contact knocked out a valve stem on a left-side tire on his Big Machine Racing No. 48 Chevrolet slowed his efforts in Stage 2. He made it all the way back to seventh by the time darkness and the checkered flag fell.
“Obviously, the flat tire was just unfortunate,” said Kligerman, who is now 18 points below the elimination line. “Green-flag stop, it killed us. We lost all our track position, and we just had to motor our way on through. Big Machine Racing just buckled down on that run. I don’t know how many cars we passed. It had to be a lot. You know, we had speed. We keep doing that, we’ve just got to execute better.”
While Kligerman was mired further back, Creed matched his fourth-place finish in Stage 2 to offset his competitor’s stage-point gain. But Creed’s charge was upended when he pitted on Lap 44 out of 62, entering just after pit road had closed for the stalled No. 34 entry of Andre Castro. The penalty knocked his No. 2 Chevy back in the running, and put him eighth in the final order.
The Xfinity Series heads to Watkins Glen International next Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Creed’s top-10 result was his first in eight races, but Kligerman has had a more pronounced rise, placing ninth, second, eighth and seventh in his last four starts.
“It’s funny, right? Like you get to this time of season, everyone buckles down, so all our competitors are doing the same thing,” Kligerman said. “We’re just all in the zone, clicking off finishes. … I mean, it’s great momentum. It keeps us in the fight, it keeps the pressure on, and I think every track ahead of us is a place we can go run top 10 or top five, so I’m confident we’re gonna make the playoffs.”Ty Gibbs decisively won the battle over the craftiness of AJ Allmendinger as the two full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stole the show — and potential playoff points — from Xfinity regulars.
Overview
Event: Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts
Date: Saturday August 12, 2023
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
Layout: 2.43 mile road course with 14 turns
Laps: 62
Miles: 151.22
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 20, Stage 2 ends on Lap 40, Final Stage ends on Lap 62
TV: USA Network
Radio: Sirius XM Channel 90 and IMS Radio Network
Driver Points: 543, ranked #12
News and notes:
“We are on a real roll since Sonoma,” says Parker. “We basically would have been top 10 in every race since. We have even been close to winning a few. That gives me so much confidence heading into a race that I could not be more excited for. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most important track in motorsports, in my opinion. When I was a teenager racing USAC, I would come over to the speedway on our off days and simply walk around and imagine getting the chance to race there. I’ve often joked, it would be an honor to win a foot race at this track! Also, I know it’s an important place for Big Machine, which makes it all the better. I think we have a great opportunity this weekend and our whole Big Machine Racing team is ready to capitalize!”
On his birthday this week…
“Made it to my go kart number in age,” says Kligerman. “Funny story about the number - my lucky number was 3, but when I started go karting 20 years ago, everyone wanted to be 3 because of a certain Earnhardt character. So I said “I’ll be 33 because it will be double the luck” damn that kid had some confidence! Guess he was right. I made it from racing karts in a parking lot, to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. If you tried to replicate the path, it’d take a trillion+ times to have the same outcome Never give up kids! Dreams don’t just come true, people will them to happen.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted the NASCAR Xfinity Series three times on its road course configuration. Chase Briscoe won the inaugural race in 2020, followed by Austin Cindric in 2021 and AJ Allmendinger in 2022.
Allmendinger is the only previous winner entered in this weekend’s Pennzoil 150 Presented by Advance Auto Parts. Known as the “road course ringer,” it’s no surprise that Allmendinger has already set records on the Indianapolis Road Course. He set the race record last season with a speed of 77.825 mph and has won both poles at the track (qualifying was canceled in the 2020 inaugural race due to the pandemic).
NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers will fire up their engines for practice at 9:35 a.m. ET followed by qualifying at 10:05 a.m. ET on Saturday, August 12 on the NBC Sports App and IMS Radio.
Two chances to kiss the bricks: double duty drivers
Some Cup Series drivers love the Indianapolis bricks so much that they want to give themselves two opportunities to take the checkered flag and kiss the bricks this weekend – AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain.
Allmendinger will be piloting the No. 10 for his fifth Xfinity Series start of the 2023 season. Three of his four previous starts were on road courses – COTA (first place), Sonoma (runner up), and Road America (ninth). He has made all three starts on the Indianapolis Road Course in the Xfinity Series and has only gotten better time after time. He posted a fourth-place finish in the inaugural race in 2020, a runner up finish in 2021 and then finally snagged the checkered flag in 2022.
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, Ty Gibbs, will be making his seventh Xfinity Series start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 19. Two of his Xfinity Series starts this season were on a road course – COTA (third place) and Sonoma (fourth place). He’s made two starts on the Indianapolis Road Course, posting a 19th-place finish and an eighth-place finish.
Chastain will be making his fifth Xfinity Series start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 91. He’s made one road course Xfinity Series start this season at Sonoma, where he finished 18th. He has made two series starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, posting a sixth-place finish (2020) and a fourth-place finish (2022).
IndyCar veteran Conor Daly will be making his first Xfinity Series start of the 2023 season this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course behind the wheel of the No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet. The Indiana native made his debut in the Xfinity Series in 2018 at Road America. He has since made starts in both the Cup Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. His most recent start was in the Truck Series a few weeks ago at Mid-Ohio where he finished 18th. The Xfinity Series race at IMS will be his first stock car stint on the road course.