Parker Kligerman docked points, crew chief fined by NASCAR for spoiler violation

NASCAR announced Wednesday that Parker Kligerman has been docked five playoff and 20 regular season points for an L1 violation discovered at Michigan this past weekend.

The sanctioning body fined crew chief Patrick Donahue $25,000 for the infraction. NASCAR penalized Kligerman and his Big Machine Racing team for a modification to the car’s spoiler, violating section 14.4.10.A of the Xfinity Series Rule Book, per Dustin Long of NBC Sports.

Kligerman is now just 16 points above the playoff cutline with five regular season races remaining. Kligerman, who finished 11th at Michigan, currently occupies the 11th playoff spot. As opposed to the Cup Series where 16 drivers get in, only 12 advance to the postseason in the Xfinity Series.

Parker Kligerman on the playoff bubble in Xfinity Series

Suffice to say, a 20-point penalty isn’t ideal at this stage in the season for Kligerman, who has yet to find Victory Lane. Still, Kligerman is having another solid campaign with Big Machine. He finished 10th in the standings last season, and through 21 races in 2024, he has posted nine top 10s and two top 5s. Kligerman finished a season best P4 at the Chicago Street Race last month.

Kligerman said earlier this season he was excited about the progress they’ve made as a team in year two of being together.

“In terms of running position and results, we’re way ahead of last year, massively,” Kligerman said. “We’ve had a lot of issues on pit road this year; that’s been a tough spot for us. You can look at these first [13] races and add up a couple points over every race that if we had that back, we’re sitting fifth or sixth in points.”