Parker Kligerman returns to full-time Xfinity with Big Machine

The last time Parker Kligerman was a full-time driver in any NASCAR national division, he was a 22-year-old driving a Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Nationwide Series. The next time he runs a full schedule, he will be a 32-year-old in a Chevrolet, KBM no longer has a programme in said series, and it is now the Xfinity Series.

On Saturday, Big Machine Racing announced Kligerman will drive the #48 Chevrolet Camaro for the full 2023 season. He did a one-off with the team at Talladega, where he finished sixth.

“Parker Kligerman is coming to Big Machine Racing at the perfect time,” said team owner Scott Borchetta. “As our team continues to grow and put up real results, Parker has the experience and talent to take us next level. He has also become a staple in the NASCAR world with fans and industry alike and he will be a great ambassador for Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers and our other brands.”

The opportunity arose when the two parties made contact shortly after Kligerman won the Camping World Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio in July. He has run limited schedules in the series for Henderson Motorsports since 2017, scoring two wins. In twelve races in 2022, he notched eight top tens, four top fives, and the Mid-Ohio victory. Kligerman has three career wins in the Trucks, including two at Talladega.

He raced for the Truck title in 2011 and 2012, finishing fifth in points in the latter, before graduating to the now-Xfinity Series in 2013 with KBM. Despite placing ninth in the standings with thirteen top tens, he was out of a ride when KBM shuttered their arm in that series. In the decade since, he has run just five Xfinity races, mostly on road courses, with a pair of top tens.

“From getting the call in Mid-Ohio to our first run together at Talladega Big Machine Racing has felt like somewhere I want to be,” Kligerman commented. “I’m thrilled to be joining the championship-caliber team Scott Borchetta has put together and I can’t wait to continue the building process with the folks at Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers.”

Big Machine is in their third season of operation. After Jade Buford finished twenty-third in points in 2021, he was released mid-2022 and replaced by a rotation of drivers that includes Kligerman, Marco Andretti, Ross Chastain, Austin and Ty Dillon, Kaz Grala, Tyler Reddick, Nick Sanchez, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Reddick scored the team’s maiden victory at Texas in May, and the #48 is currently eighteenth in the owner points. Sanchez will finish out the season.