Xfinity Star Calls Out COTA Rival’s “Etiquette” as He Defends Heated Post-Race Interaction With Bold Claim

Kyle Larson nabbed his 15th Xfinity win after edging past front-runners Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill in a thrilling final lap of double overtime at Circuit of the Americas. But that wasn’t the only drama happening during the final laps.

Right after the final restart, it looked like Sage Karam, driving the #26, got spun out by Parker Kligerman. The real fireworks happened post-race, with both drivers caught in a heated blame game, each pointing fingers at the other.

Parker Kligerman felt backed into a corner with no choice but to spin out #26

With just four laps left, chaos was everywhere. Kyle Weatherman and Ed Jones collided, triggering a caution, while Ty Gibbs found himself tangled up with AJ Allmendinger during the slowdown. Meanwhile, Sage Karam, who had been holding strong all race, suddenly found himself spun by Parker Kligerman.

Despite his aggressive move and clinching Stage 1 earlier in the race, Kligerman couldn’t grab the win, ending up in 5th place. After the race, the feud spilled on pit road as, amid post-race interviews, while Toby Christie was chatting with Kligerman, Sage Karam unexpectedly showed up to have a heated word with the #48 driver.

As both drivers pointed fingers over who was at fault after the restart, Kligerman hit Twitter to share his perspective. He claimed Sage Karam indicated to him that any attempt to overtake would end with Kligerman being spun out. Left with no choice, Kligerman felt compelled to push Karam’s car out of the way.

He tweeted, “Huge points day for us and overall a really great day. Proud of this team I feel awful for @SamHunt22 , I love that guy and have immense respect for what he has built and his employees. I consider them friends.”

Kligerman added, “But there is an etiquette to this game when it comes to contact and I felt like the signal I was given, was if I re-passed their car I was going to be spun. Not a position I wanted to be in but I felt I was left no choice to get what my team deserved. I look forward to chatting with Sage when the time is right.”

Following this, Sage Karam also took things to Twitter to lay out his version of events.

Sage Karam’s take about the whole ‘wrong decision’ of Parker Kligerman

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Sage Karam kicked off strong, matching his best-ever starting position at COTA by qualifying in P6. In the race’s closing stages, he rocketed to second place on the final restart, only to be spun out by Parker Kligerman. The incident understandably fueled his frustration with Kligerman.

Reacting to Kligerman’s tweet, Karam hit back on Twitter, saying, “Great day gone bad.2nd on last restart in a good spot and got run over from what the 48 says he” was left no choice”. Everyone has choices but sometimes they are the wrong ones. Bummed for the @Team_SHR26 crew they didn’t deserve that result. Thank you @CRCAuto . Our day is coming!”

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So, in this tangle of events, who do you reckon dropped the ball?