Going into Darlington, the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series left with only two races to go in the regular season, with a number of drivers fighting to secure their places in the playoffs. Xfinity only has 12 playoff spots up for grabs, four fewer than the Cup Series, which makes the competition all the more intense, as was evident in Darlington. Parker Kligerman believed that he could get a foothold in one of the playoff places at the end of Darlington, but things did not turn out the way he had hoped for.

The 33-year-old was having a decent race, successfully maneuvering his #48 Big Machine Racing car around the track, and seemed set to get into the playoff spots on the Xfinity table by the end of the race. But an incident involving Kligerman with only six laps to go saw him lose control of his car and spin, dropping him over 10 places and out of the playoff spots.

Parker Kligerman blames Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s driver for his current standings in Xfinity

The #48 driver had one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s stars to blame for what happened. Had things not gone down the way they did, Kligerman would be in one of the playoff spots going into the final regular-season Xfinity race. But he finds himself with a mountain of work to do going into Kansas.

Another thing that really frustrated the 33-year-old was that it happened with just six laps to go. At the time, the Big Machine Racing driver was in 12th place, but after he spun out and rejoined the rest of the field, he had dropped more than 10 places and could only finish P24 and score 13 points.

Kligerman was tagged from behind by one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports drivers, who recently found himself in hot water for causing a crash earlier in the season at Indianapolis. The man in question is none other than the driver of the #1 car, Sam Mayer.

Speaking after the race, Kligerman vented his frustrations at Mayer, stating that he might have won races, but his antics on track often cost other people the race. The 33-year-old’s disappointment was understandable, as a finish in the top 15 would have done his playoff hopes a world of good.

“You know, the way we executed this weekend and even with having a loose wheel, to come back from that, having to make a bunch of adjustments and then just get flat run over by the #1 car, I mean it’s just so disappointing. Sam’s a friend of the team, his dad is too but…I know he’s won races but he just does dumb stuff like that all the time. I don’t know what the reason is but he’s gotta clean it up”.

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Mayer finished P11, which might have been the position Kligerman would have finished in if he hadn’t tagged, as he was running P12 at the time. However, the JR Motorsports driver did not have a smooth weekend himself, the No. 1 car failed to be inspected ahead of the race, and the crew lost its pit selection privileges for Kansas.

NASCAR slaps seven drivers with penalties

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Alongside his teammate Josh Berry, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 1, Sam Mayer’s crew was penalized for failing inspection ahead of the Darlington race, with the penalty being levied on the crews for next weekend’s race at Kansas.

As before every race, the officials at NASCAR follow a thorough car inspection process that takes about three hours to complete. It usually consists of five different inspection stations. Visual inspections, optical scans, and safety certifications are what take place in these inspections.

The other drivers who met with the same fate were Corey Heim, Kaz Grala, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, and Kyle Sieg. It is necessary that all the cars pass the inspection, and those that don’t are reprimanded and penalized.

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Although he has already qualified for the playoffs, Mayer would have liked to finish the regular season on a high. He still can, but having to deal with the pit stall selection penalty just makes the job a bit more difficult.

With two wins already to his name, Mayer currently sits in fifth place on the Xfinity table and has clinched his place in the playoffs. The 20-year-old is one of the most exciting young talents in NASCAR today, and it will be interesting to see when he makes the big move to the Cup.