Everybody loves a dark horse and the state of Kentucky has seen its share of them defy the odds at Churchill Downs. Donerail (1913), Mine That Bird (2009), Giacomo (2005), Gallahadion (1940) and Charismatic (1999) were all horses that won the Kentucky Derby with greater than 30 to 1 odds. Another charismatic colt will set his sights on a win at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, as 22-year-old Parker Kligerman aims to gallop past the favored Sprint Cup Series stars down the stretch and put his No. 77 Camp Horsin’ Around Camry in victory lane after Friday’s Feed the Children 300.
The talented youngster has been on the cusp of picking up his first career Nationwide Series win the last two weeks. Two weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn with the rain approaching, crew chief Eric Phillips rolled the dice and while others pitted left his young driver at the front of the field. Kligerman opened up a 1.5-second lead on the field, but when the precipitation fell later than anticipated, was forced to pit for fuel with just over 10 laps remaining and ended with a disappointing 25th-place finish. Last week, he had one of the fastest vehicles at Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisc., but fell to the back of the field after getting run of course. With four laps remaining, the Connecticut native had muscled his way back to the front of the field, but a crinkled hood slightly affected the handling of his Camry and he had to settle for a career-best third-place finish.
Kentucky is a track that Kligerman has had already achieved success at in his budding career. He led 58 laps en route to victory in the 2009 ARCA Racing Series event. In four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, he posted two runner-up finishes. In his first time in a truck at the 1.5-mile tri-oval he nearly ran down now-owner Kyle Busch but came up just short and in his most recent trip to “The Bluegrass State” finished second to 2012 Truck Series Champion James Buescher.
With a field that consists of Sprint Cup Series stars Kyle Busch and Brad Keselwoski along with former Cup Series regulars Regan Smith, Sam Hornish Jr., Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers, to the general public Kligerman would appear to be a dark horse. He will saddle into his brand new Camry, looking to be strong out of the gates and do everything he can to hold off the competition down the stretch and leave Kentucky as the latest dark horse to be victorious.
KBM PR
