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NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer explains controversial ending of Xfinity Series Roval race

Brian Jones Profile Picby:Brian Jones•10/15/24•

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Parker Kligerman
Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Roval race featured a controversial ending, and Elton Sawyer broke down what happened. While appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Sawyer, the NASCAR senior vice president of competition, talked about the caution flag being waived before Parker Kligerman could take the white flag that would have made the race official.

“It did take too long,” Sawyer said. “I met with our team in its hour after the Saturday night. We went through what happened there. We made some adjustments overnight as far as camera angles so that our replay operator could be able to see that quicker, to be able to get that information to the race director. We made an adjustment over Saturday night, felt like we’re in a much better place on Sunday. That’s a call that we wanted to get to quicker, but you got to have the information.”

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Kilgerman was leading the Roval race with two laps to go. But when Leland Honeyman ran into a barrier, a caution was not called immediately and Kligerman’s team thought they won the race. Instead, the race went to overtime, and Sam Mayer earned the win. It was a tough loss for Kligerman as the victory would have put him in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs.

More on the controversial ending at the NASCAR Xfinity Series Roval race

“This hurts,” Kligerman said, per NASCAR.com. “I said on the cooldown lap, I want to cry, but I won’t, and it’s gotten close a couple times as I think about it. I just, I’ve really loved doing this, and I’ve been so grateful to have the opportunity to be here and to be at this level and to make a career doing this. And I just love the intensity and the pressure. And I really, really wanted that.

“I just felt like that was a poetic — if I could just do one thing, it would have been winning this damn race in that fashion, holding off some of the best in the world in SVG (Shane van Gisbergen), and AJ (Allmendinger), Sam Mayer, who’s a Roval master now. I thought I was driving at the highest level I’ve ever driven, and I didn’t get it done.”