CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Sam Mayer won on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a controversial overtime finish Saturday that allowed Mayer to advance in the Xfinity Series playoffs.
It came at the expense of Parker Kligerman, who not only was denied his first career Xfinity Series victory in regulation by a NASCAR scoring call, but also was eliminated from the playoff field.
Kligerman was leading headed toward the white flag that would have signified the final lap of the race when Leland Honeyman ran into the tire barrier. NASCAR could have thrown the caution immediately — that's how deep into the tire barrier Honeyman was — but the yellow inexplicably didn't flash until the split second Kligerman was about to cross under the white flag that would have made the race official.
Kligerman's team was celebrating on pit road when NASCAR ruled that he had not taken the white flag and the race would go to overtime. It was a record-tying 14th overtime race of the Xfinity Series this season.
Mayer, who won this race a year ago, caught Kligerman in the two-lap sprint to the finish to win the race and advance in the playoffs. The two made contact on Mayer's winning pass, which caused enough damage that Kligerman, who is in his final season of full-time NASCAR racing, faded to a sixth-place finish.
“I want to cry,” said Kligerman, “but I'm not gonna. I really love this, and I really, really wanted that. It would have made the world."
When shown the replay of how close he'd come to winning the race before the late call on the caution, Kligerman, who is a television analyst for the Cup races, was incredulous.
“What!” he said in disbelief. “I've seen enough from the TV side to know the heart-wrench and guttedness that people go through on something like that.”
AJ Allmendinger, who had been a perfect 4 for 4 on The Roval in the Xfinity Series, finished second and was followed by pole-sitter Shane Van Gisbergen, who despite the third-place finish was eliminated from the playoffs. Allmendinger and Van Gisbergen both race in Sunday's Cup Series race, with Van Gisbergen on the pole.
He was knocked out by Jesse Love, who finished 19th, but passed enough cars on the final two laps to eliminate Van Gisbergen by two points. Kligerman, Van Gisbergen, Sheldon Creed and Riley Herbst were all eliminated.
Creed and Herbst were in earlier accidents and left to watch the finish for their fate from inside the garage.
Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were the only two drivers already locked into the round of eight, leaving only six spots open in the playoffs on Charlotte's hybrid road course/oval course.
Justin Allgaier, who was below the cutline at the start of the race, finished seventh and advanced. With the points reset, Allgaier is now the points leader headed into the opening race of the next round next Saturday in Las Vegas.
The top seven finishers Saturday at Charlotte were playoff drivers.
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