For the second time during the 2025 NASCAR season, Parker Kligerman went to victory lane at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night. Kligerman is also still seeking his first win of 2025.
And based on the NASCAR record books, both statements are completely true.
Kligerman won the Truck Series season opener at Daytona back in February, only to have his win stripped from him after the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Chevrolet failed post-race technical inspection.
Then on Friday night in the Xfinity Series race, Kligerman was behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet after taking over during the race from Connor Zilisch.
Zilisch, who broke his collarbone when he fell from his car during his victory lane celebration at Watkins Glen International 13 days prior, started the race, however, meaning that anything Kligerman did would be tied to Zilisch.
Kligerman delivered Zilisch his series-leading seventh win of the year.
We all thought it was cool that Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his first win as a crew chief with Zilisch and the No. 88 team at Pocono Raceway back in June. And it was.
But how about Zilisch actually winning a race, classified as the driver, from the pit box?
No fill-in driver had won a race since Denny Hamlin replaced Aric Almirola at the Milwaukee Mile in 2007 and won it for Joe Gibbs Racing. Almirola was scored with his first career Xfinity (then-Busch) Series win, despite the fact that it was Hamlin who drove to victory lane.
What Zilisch won't get credit for are the five playoff points he would have earned had he actually been the one to win Friday night's Wawa 250. As a result, he is still at 36, rather than 41, though he still leads the series in that category with two races remaining on the regular season schedule.
Due to stage points, Zilisch actually lost the lead of the point standings to teammate Justin Allgaier, who won stage two and finished the race in third place. The regular season champion is awarded 15 bonus playoff points, while the runner-up is awarded 10. Allgaier, the reigning series champion, has a three-point lead over Zilisch in total points.
Officially, Zilisch has now won five of the six most recent races and six of the most recent 12 since missing the race at Texas Motor Speedway with a back injury back in May. Kyle Larson won that race as his replacement, though Larson himself was actually scored with the win since he didn't get in the car mid-race to replace the 19-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native.
Zilisch has not finished lower than fifth place since missing that race, and including his "win" at Daytona, his average finish is 2.08 during that stretch.
The Pacific Office Automation 147 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 30, with live coverage set to be provided by the CW Network from Portland International Raceway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the penultimate race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season!