Parker Kligerman Hoping to Replicate KBM’s 2012 Richmond Win

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In: Xfinity Series News

In last April’s 250-lap event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Kurt Busch and the No. 54 Monster Energy team captured the first NASCAR Nationwide Series win for his younger brother’s startup program. This time around there is a new driver behind the wheel, a new crew chief calling the shots, a new number on the side of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) Nationwide Series entry and a new race sponsor for this year’s Richmond spring event, but Parker Kligerman and his No. 77 Toyota Camry team are hoping to replicate the team’s historic win from last year and make a trip to victory lane at the end of Friday’s ToyotaCare 250.

 

One thing that will be the same for this year’s race is the primary chassis that the team is bringing. First-year Nationwide Series crew chief Eric Phillips and his Toyota Racing team will unload KBM-09, which is the same Camry that the elder Busch drove to victory in last year’s event. Kligerman – who currently sits sixth in the Nationwide Series driver point standings – piloted the Toyota earlier this season at Phoenix, but was relegated to a 19th-place finish after experiencing a brake issue in the race and collected the wall.

 

Despite having many personnel changes this season, Kligerman and the No. 77 are strides ahead of where KBM’s Nationwide Series program was at this time a year ago. After six races last season, the No. 54 bunch ranked 15th in the Nationwide Series owner’s championship standings, had recorded just one top-10 finish and posted an average finish of 19.5. This year, the team enters Friday’s race ranked eighth in the owner’s championship standings, hs already recorded two top-five and three top-10 finishes and currently boast an average finish of 13.2.

 

Kligerman knows a thing or two about replicating the elder Busch brother on the track, having tested his Sprint Cup Series cars at Penske Racing from 2009 to 2011. Now, the talented youngster hopes to imitate his boss’s brother once again and bring another Richmond trophy home to KBM Friday night.

 

KBM PR

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