NASCAR race control cruelly 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 had a tire failure and his car skidded into and under a tire barrier. Honeyman had no way to get his car out from under the tires, so a warning was inevitable.
But NASCAR waited. And he waited. And he waited a few more seconds. And he apparently waited until Kligerman got the white flag at the finish line. After Kligerman crossed the line to begin his final lap, cameras showed that NASCAR officials had turned on the caution lights.
If a yellow flag comes out on the last lap, the race is over. In this case, Kligerman would have won. But the yellow flag did not come out on the last lap. The lights came on when Kligerman’s car was just meters away from crossing the finish line.
Since Kligerman had not officially started the white flag lap, the race was extended for a two-lap restart. Kligerman lost the lead to Sam Mayer at Turn 7 on the first lap after the restart and dropped to sixth place as the race ended.
The victory ensured that Mayer would advance to the penultimate round of the playoffs and also meant that Kligerman would be eliminated from the playoffs.
It was not immediately clear why NASCAR waited so long to issue the yellow flag for Honeyman’s car. There is a millisecond delay between when NASCAR officials press the caution button and when 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 television broadcast.
The warning was not activated by NASCAR officials in this conveniently edited eight-second clip of Honeyman’s crashed car that NASCAR posted on social media.
The race should have restarted. Plain and simple. NASCAR holding the caution flag until Kligerman took the white flag would have been a race-rigging maneuver. But waiting so long – and until Kligerman was so close to the white flag – was unnecessarily cruel for a driver whose full-time career will end after this season.
Kligerman, who has 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 career starts and finished 10th in the standings a season ago with a pair of second-place finishes. Saturday’s race at the Roval may very well be the closest he gets to an Xfinity Series victory. And even if we all know Kligerman lost the race fair and square in overtime, it’s hard not to feel terrible for him given the way NASCAR waited so long to throw the yellow flag.