By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—There is only one goal for Parker Kligerman during the Gander RV Duel: beat Ryan Truex to make the Daytona 500.
Since after qualifying Sunday, Kligerman and Truex posted on Twitter and Instagram a tounge and cheek interplay about who will make the 61st running of the Daytona 500.
“Ryan is probably my best friend who is a driver. Before qualifying was even over, I texted him when I realized what happened. I said, ‘so this is awkward,’ Kligerman said. “He texted back, ‘we are racing against each other, aren’t we?’ I was like ‘yup, it comes to us two making the 500.’ Our friendship is definitely on the rock since then. It was a fun thing on Instagram and Twitter poking at each other, then it got serious for a second, but it is now back to fun.”
The plan for Klgerman is to go out and “run like hell” and to not have a plan going into the duels because there are 20 other drivers making their own decisions.
“As much as you can have the best laid plans, none of that is going to come to fruition when you have 20 other cars that are going to make their own decisions,” he said. “I have to do what I know best which is racing at a superspeedway, try to figure out the type of drafting, and figure out the right moves at the end. The nice thing is that I know who I have to beat. It is not going to be some calculation in the race. I know if I finish ahead of the 31 and the 71, I know that I am in the Daytona 500.”
Although there is pressure to make NASCAR’s biggest race, the
28-year-old driver feels relaxed because he is a racer and racers want to race.
In the race, Kligerman knows that he is in control of his own destiny.
“Knowing going into a race that I can make a difference, I’ve done that at superspeedways,” he said. “I enjoy superspeedway racing and I’ve been successful at superspeedways. I can understand a draft pretty quickly. Now, I feel like I can make a difference and it’s on me.”
“So, that relaxes me because it comes down to me and the decisions that I make and if I make wrong decisions then we won’t make the Daytona 500 and if I do the right things and we make the right changes on the car we can be in the Daytona 500 and that excites me. Because at the end of the day, we’re racers and the best thing we can do is race so I’d like that opportunity.”
During the duel, the only information Kligerman will need to know is if someone has a problem on the race track because it will change how he races.