Roger Penske may have yet another star in the making in the person of young Parker Kligerman. While everyone focuses on the continued presence of Cup drivers in Nationwide, and other prospects like Trevor Bayne, Kligerman has been quietly racing and finishing well.
So far this season, Kligerman has only seven starts in the Nationwide Series although he has attempted ten races. He’s driven for underfunded Smith Ganassi Racing and gotten a few starts in Penske equipment masked as K-Automotive #26 Dodges. While the three early season DNQs certainly don’t look good on his resume, his last four starts (Daytona, Chicago, Bristol, Montreal) all turned into very impressive runs. After finishing 13th at both Daytona and Chicago, Kligerman has cracked the top ten in his last two races with a ninth at Bristol and an eighth at Montreal. Not bad considering he was up against Cup regulars at Bristol and a slew of road course aces at Montreal.
Kligerman signed on as a Penske development driver for the 2009 season, and then spent the rest of the year dominating the ARCA RE/MAX Series. He brought home nine wins and lost the championship battle to Justin Lofton by only five points. His very good ARCA season earned him the opportunity to run two races for Penske in the Nationwide Series towards the end of ’09, and Kligerman again didn’t disappoint. In his first ever NNS attempt, he sat on the pole, led laps, and brought his car home with a top 20 finish.
For 2010, Kligerman has been running a limited NNS schedule on very little support, but he is starting to make a very solid case for why Roger Penske & Co. should find a more permanent home for his future. The young driver from Connecticut has been overshadowed this season by his Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Justin Allgaier, who currently sit first and fourth in the NNS championship standings, but his future appears to be no less bright.
Let’s hope a full slate of Nationwide races in a fully supported Penske car await Kligerman for 2011.
TheNASCARInsiders.com Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
In the current climate of funded drivers and retreating sponsorship dollars, it’s very uncommon for a young driver without his own money to get a second chance. What we are seeing with Aric Almirola though, goes against all of that. JR Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Almirola had signed a multi-year agreement to drive the team’s #88 car in the Nationwide Series.
After getting high profile gigs at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ginn Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and finally Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it appeared Almirola had washed out. Once at EGR, his #8 team was shut down only seven races into the 2009 season due to lack of funding. Through those seven races however, Almirola hadn’t exactly set the world on fire. His average finish was 32.8 and his best finish was a 21st at Atlanta. Before that, Almirola was best known for his Nationwide Series “win” at Milwaukee in which he started the race, but was pulled part way through and replaced by Denny Hamlin who went on to score the victory.
After leaving EGR in 2009, Almirola spent the rest of the season making sporadic starts for Phoenix Racing, Key Motorsports, Smith Ganassi Racing, and Billy Ballew Motorsports across all three major NASCAR series. He was one of a small group of drivers who turned to some of the lower seriesto advance his career and get more experience. And as it turned out, the 16 starts Almirola made for Billy Ballew in which he led 98 laps and had six top five finishes, would turn into a full time Truck Series ride for the 2010 season.
Fast forward to this season, Almirola has two Truck Series wins and sits second in the Truck Series points. His strong CWTS runs led to him being the backup driver for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon while they were on baby watch, plus he was given the chance to run JRM’s #88 at ORP. Almirola didn’t disappoint there either, finishing third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. All of this led up to JRM signing Almirola for the 2011 season and beyond.
Before this deal came about, we’d heard (along with others) that Almirola was a candidate for some Cup organizations, including Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola even admitted to ESPN that he’d been offered Cup deals (see the link above). With that said, I think it’s interesting that he decided to take the Nationwide deal with JRM. It would seem that in a situation like Almirola’s, especially with his stock being high, that he would have wanted to capitalize fully and take a Cup deal. Instead, he will continue to have to prove himself and his ability in the NNS with JRM.
If Almirola continues to progress, and has continued success in the future, this should help serve as a lesson to owners about driver development. Instead of rushing these kids along, and giving them a season or two to prove themselves, why not keep them in lower series longer? Let them develop their skills, then bring them along slowly. Almirola is extremely lucky that he’s been given the chances to show that he can improve, and hopefully he will parlay those chances into more success on the track.
I know this is getting beat to death around the NASCAR world, but I think it’s a worthy subject. I’m talking about NASCAR, at least preliminarily, relenting on changes to the COT.
As of right now nothing has been done and nothing has been announced and all we’ve got from NASCAR is “maybe talk,” but truly it’s a great start. Throughout the season we saw a sanctioning body more engaged with drivers and team owners, holding town hall style meetings and asking their opinions on a wide number of subjects.
In addition the sanctioning body is utilizing the Fan Council and tapping into the sentiments of the most important people involved in the sport. While they’re only occasional surveys, I promise NASCAR is listening. You screamed about Digger and they brought it to David Hill; he unfortunately didn’t listen.
Back to the COT though, this is something NASCAR has consistently refused to make changes to in the years since its introduction; and honestly that probably wasn’t a bad thing. Can you imagine being a crew chief or driver and trying to figure out a car they were constantly making changes to? It would have been a disaster.
Now they’re talking to drivers and owners and looking at making a change to the car. A wing or a spoiler? It makes no difference to me. I’m not offended by the aesthetics of the car (and certainly don’t have to drive one), but I know I’m in the minority on that. What effect will it have? I honestly have no idea. The reaction to it is clearly mixed throughout the garage. We’ll see how it works on track.
The point is NASCAR is listening; and they’re actually considering changes based on what people are saying. This really is huge. In addition to the possible changes to the COT, they’re expected to make some rule changes. The media tour is next week; NASCAR’s turn is Thursday, so expect some announcements from them.
I know this is hard to believe sometimes, but the folks at NASCAR really do want you to be happy. Happy fans, make for good bottom lines. And as we say here so often, this is a business.
A Clarification on the #26 Points Situation
We had a question in Ask the Insiders this week about the points situation of the #26. Here was my response:
I honestly haven’t heard anything about this deal, but it’s my understanding from the way NASCAR has done things in the past that they won’t be allowed to sell owner points. The problem arises because the past team owner would be listed as the owner. As Jack Roush already has four teams he can’t be listed as an owner on another car (this would be the same issue for RPM). This is very similar to the DEI-Ginn points situation (they would have exceeded the car limit). NASCAR allowed DEI to sell the points to RCR and Front Row last year because they didn’t exceed the car limit. You’ll notice Teresa Earnhardt is listed as the owner on the #34 and Bobby Ginn as owner of the #33. If NASCAR operates like they did in the past I would expect the points to disappear.
Well NASCAR didn’t operate like they did in the past and allowed Roush to essentially sell the points through a “comprehensive services agreement” to a new team owner. NASCAR clarified today (story here and here), saying this was a ONE TIME deal that they were allowing because they were forcing Roush’s downsizing. Fair enough.
In these situations in the past NASCAR has required the team owner transferring the points to somehow be involved in the team. That’s why you see Bobby Ginn listed as a team owner at RCR and why Smith Ganassi Racing has Ganassi in its name (and why Ganassi is listed as the team owner of the #42). Obviously neither of these men has anything to do with the teams that took their points, but it placates NASCAR so that’s what’s done. For all intents and purposes, while they don’t technically allow it, the points are sold.