Parker Kligerman Holds Off Zane Smith, Wins Truck Race At Mid-Ohio

Parker Kligerman won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Saturday, July 9.

Kligerman held off strong runs from Zane Smith in the final few laps to claim his third career victory.

Parker Kligerman took the lead from polesitter Corey Heim on lap 4, shortly before Lawless Alan went off track briefly. A few other trucks had trouble as well; first, Mason Filippi’s No. 46 truck stalled off the racing surface, bringing out the caution. He got it back rolling, though, and the race restarted.

But during those first few laps, Corey Heim reported a loss of power in his truck too. He kept going, eventually entering the top 10.

Another one lost power after the restart: Matt DiBenedetto. However, he, too, got back rolling, and the race stayed green.

A couple of laps later, Tyler Young stalled after coming out of pit road, bringing out the yellow flag once again. This left a one-lap shootout for stage one points, with Kligerman earning his second career stage win.

Stage two went relatively clean as far as cautions go, but Ben Rhodes had engine issues and went on pit road. John Hunter Nemechek also had trouble, as smoke appeared out of the back of his No. 4 truck. His team repaired the issue and sent him back out in stage three, 11 laps down.

At the front of the field, Zane Smith hounded on Kligerman for the race lead all throughout stage two. The No. 38 got alongside the No. 75 on the stage’s final lap and finally got ahead to take the lead and stage two victory.

After the modified pit stops, Kligerman was able to retake first place from Zane in the final stage. But it seemed like all heck broke loose, as more and more drivers encountered issues in stage three.

First, Justin Marks spun around with 21 laps to go, though no harm was done and he got it back in gear. Then Dylan Lupton had significant rear-end damage after he hit the tires in turn 7.

Soon after, Marks again had a problem, but this time it was no brakes. On lap 51, his No. 41 went hard in the tire barrier in turn 4, leaving him out of the race.

And as the saying goes, cautions breed cautions. Just after the race restarted on lap 55, Austin Wayne Self spun around in traffic. Jack Wood got into Self, while Blaine Perkins had nowhere to go and ran smack into Wood’s No. 24.

Once the race went back to green, Zane Smith was able to get in front of Kligerman for the lead, while Heim followed through. Carson Hocevar went from second to fourth…