AJ Allmendinger refuses to open up after late-race incident with Parker Kligerman at Daytona

NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger refrained from answering a question after a dramatic finish at Daytona International Speedway. Allmendinger started the WaWa 250 in P3 but an on-track incident led to a P26 finish for the 42-year-old.

Allmendinger pilots the #16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, competing full-time in the Xfinity Series. In a career spanning 17 years, Allmendinger has secured 21 race wins across all NASCAR divisions. Three of the wins were secured in the Cup Series and 18 in the Xfinity Series.

Allmendinger had maintained a top-five position throughout the race and looked like he was set to drive down the victory lane. The California native also led the most laps in the race, despite not having won any stages. His consistency got him into P2 with 2 laps to go. As the race got white-flagged at that point, Parker Kligerman's 48 Chevy made contact with Allmendinger and sent him spinning off the track.

In an interview with Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, Allmendinger gave brief responses to the questions:

“I’m just proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “That was a fast Campers Inn RV Chevy. Had a shot to win and didn’t."

When Pockrass asked the #16 driver if he tried to block Kligerman from making a pass, Allmendinger said:

“I’m just proud of the team, man. That’s all I can say.”

Pockrass also asked Allmendinger if he would make use of this momentum while moving forward to which the Kaulig driver had a curt response, saying that there’s "no momentum" right now.

As things currently stand, Allmendinger is P5 in the Xfinity Series driver standings with 674 points but remains outside the 2024 playoffs.

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Parker Kligerman comments on final-lap incident with AJ Allmendinger at Daytona

Parker Kligerman tried to move past AJ Allmendinger on the final lap of the WaWa 250 at Daytona. As the field drove into turn one, Kligerman's #48 made contact with the left rear of Allemdionger's Chevy, sending him spinning toward the grass.

It is unclear whether Kligerman pushed Allmendinger out of his way or whether it was a bad block from the Kaulig Racing driver. Kligerman shed light on the incident in a post-race interview (via Peter Stratta on X)

"I had a plan, I knew the whole time coming to that restart that I wanted to be on the bottom of the last lap. And if I could materialize being the lead car on the bottom, I was going to take it.[...]I moved, he(AJ Allmendinger) tried to come with me, I was already there, it's a late block, that happens." Kligerman said. [0:07]

On being asked whether he could have done anything differently in the final lap, Kligerman said:

"I moved off his bumper, which maybe could have got him loose at the same time, but I had the run was materializing, I was getting pushed, so I was going to take it to the bottom and I can see that I cleared the 98. So I'm not going to say like, hey, maybe it's a late block, but you know, it takes two to tango." [1:20]