JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer came up with a big clutch performance at Roval to lock himself in the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Series playoffs. However, this was far from a straightforward finish for Mayer in the No. 1 Chevy, as his patience was tested by Parker Kligerman throughout the very last lap of the race. Nothing but a win would see Mayer through to the next round, and he certainly rose to the occasion.

Although Kligerman managed to keep the #1 Chevy at bay on multiple occasions. But with a tremendous amount of pressure in overtime, his resilience was crushed by the JRM driver.

Sam Mayer continues his hunt for the championship

Turn 7 became a big talking point coming into this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The newly reconfigured part of the race track encouraged drivers to make dive-bo*b moves and passing opportunities. This was well exploited by the Kiwi speedster Shane van Gisbergen as he gained position using the corner to his advantage.

Kilgerman knew that Mayer would make a move exiting on that particular corner, and he did come up with a good defensive move. He didn’t allow the #1 in the inside lane, but Mayer outsmarted his rival and angled his run from the top lane to the bottom. The two cars were side by side, and ultimately, the #1 Chevy of Mayer got the better of the #48.

A win and you’re in was the only thing on Mayer’s mind, and before he departs from JRM at the end of this year, he will have a deep playoff run. Perhaps even a genuine shot at winning the championship. “Yeah, you know like we were all crossed up getting in there. I was loose in Turn 6, and I knew that it was my only shot if I got a good angle on the corner. He blocked the bottom, which was good for me; it gave me a better angle up of the corner, and now I get to celebrate.” Mayer said this in the post-race interview.

For SVG, this road course race didn’t turn out as he would’ve hoped. A late race call to stay out on older tires came back to haunt the #97 team as their playoff run came to an end. However, for Parker Kligerman, it was a roller coaster ride of emotions that ultimately ended in heartbreak. And it was all because of an official call to not award him the win before the race went into overtime.

Kilgerman almost had his crowing moment with a win at Roval

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After competing in over 100 Xfinity Series races over a decade, Parker Kligerman came so close to winning his first-ever race in his final season competing in NASCAR. He had everything go in his favor—the late race call to get the fresh tires, a clean restart, and even keeping Sam Mayer at bay. With 2 laps to go in the race, Leland Honeyman just lost control of his car and rammed into the tire barriers.

During the race, when Honeyman crashed, Kligerman was in the lead, and before the yellow came out, he crossed the finish line. Typically, any flag after the leader takes the white ends the race, but that wasn’t the case here. The officials in the tower looked back at the events as the #48 Chevy crossed the start-finish line and flashed the yellow. And it turned out that the caution was flagged before Kligerman took the white flag. Thus, the race transitioned into overtime, where Sam Mayer finally got the better of his fellow Chevy rival.

“I thought I cut off the turn 7 enough, but he somehow dropped below me, and then it was on from there. It was hard racing, but as close as you can be. I said I wanted to cry; I’m not going to cry. But I really love this game, and I just really, really wanted that. Would’ve meant the world. I don’t know how to process this. It’s going to take a while. To have the opportunity, I love this game; I want to get a trophy.” A dejected Parker Kligerman said this after the race.

This was Kligerman’s second runner-up finish in the Xfinity Series. While he might have missed out on advancing further in the playoffs, there are still five more races this year to end his racing career on a high.