Dale Earnhardt Jr Spectates as Nephew Pits Teammate Against Parker Kligerman Following Xfinity Scuffle

NASCAR feels incomplete without some tension on the pit road, and that’s exactly what fans got at the end of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA with Parker Kligerman and Sage Karam last weekend. On the final restart at COTA, the Sam Hunt Racing driver was spun around by Kligerman, which completely ruined his race. Furious about the incident, the #26 driver confronted Kligerman after the race. That feud spilled over into social media in the following days, and Jeffrey Earnhardt proved to be one of the instigators.

What did Earnhardt do? He pitted the two against one another in a hypothetical boxing contest! Earnhardt’s uncle, Dale Earnhardt Jr, also got in on the fun, and it made for a light-hearted comments section for fans to enjoy on X.

It all began when Kligerman uploaded a post-training picture of him in front of a punching bag. The X handle @nascarcasm shared the picture and captioned it, “SAGE KARAM ARE YOU READY TO DANCE IN THE CIRCLE OF PAIN.” Jeffrey Earnhardt, who’s teammates with Karam (who races part-time for Sam Hunt Racing), responded to the tweet with a picture of Karam sporting wrestling gear in his younger days. Considering the photographic evidence to support Karam’s fighting experience, Earnhardt wrote,

“My man @SageKaram been messin’ dudes up since way back. Gonna have to take my man Sage on this one. 🤷🏼‍♂️ said what I said. Wrestling since a kid over some boxing classes (or maybe just one for the social post) all day.” More than his teammate’s support, the picture caught Karam’s attention. Impressed (and concerned) by “Detective Jeffrey,” he wrote, “Lol, how in the world did you get this pic? Should I be concerned?” After admitting to digging through Karam’s Instagram, Earnhardt stated, “Just had to let them know you got years in the game handling business.” That’s where Dale Earnhardt Jr came in.

Evidently amused by this back-and-forth between Jeffrey and his teammate, the motorsport veteran tweeted, “Man, this is entertaining as hell.” While the discussion around the online feud amused Dale Jr, an aspect of the in-person one in COTA didn’t please him. As Parker Kligerman and Sage Karam exchanged words, a member of Kligerman’s team stood between them.

Referring to this on the Dale Jr Download podcast, he said, “The ECR guy played with the way. That was so weird. And he kept moving back and forth, like why do you do it? Let him talk.” In response to this, Kligerman revealed on the Dirty Mo Media podcast,  “The ECR engine guy you are referring to is Jake. He’s my engine tuner. He’s a gentle giant.” He explained how it was in both teams and drivers’ best interest that Jake didn’t let the fight escalate.

Speaking of the back-and-forth on the pit road, neither driver believed they were at fault. But taking to X after the race, the Big Machine Racing star made his stance clear.

Parker Kligerman revealed his side of the story after the COTA incident

As far as Kligerman was concerned, he was in a position where he had no choice. The 33-year-old wrote that he was informed he would be spun around at the time if he re-passed the Sam Hunt Racing car driven by Karam, and all he did was make sure that his team got what they deserved. Sage Karam was having none of it as he took to X to tweet that his rival had simply made the wrong choice.

Evidently, Karam didn’t hold back on his criticism. But neither did Parker Kligerman in the tweet Karam responded to. However, he did empathize with Sam Hunt Racing. “Huge points day for us and overall a really great day. Proud of this team. I feel awful for @SamHunt22, I love that guy and have immense respect for what he has built and his employees. I consider them friends,” he tweeted.

Referring to Karam, Kligerman added, “But there is an etiquette to this game when it comes to contact, and I felt like the signal I was given was if I re-passed their car, I was going to be spun. Not a position I wanted to be in, but I felt I was left no choice to get what my team deserved. I look forward to chatting with Sage when the time is right.”

It will be interesting to see how the two drivers interact with one another when NASCAR goes to the Richmond Raceway this coming weekend. Who do you think will perform better between the two?

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