“It sort of hit me” - Parker Kligerman reveals the first time he thought about quitting Xfinity Series racing

Parker Kligerman recently announced that the current Xfinity Series season will be his last, and he will no longer race for Big Machine Racing in 2025. The 34-year-old broke the news on his podcast 'The Money Lap' on Thursday. Since then, fans have been eager to know the reasons for his retirement.

Following his announcement, Kligerman made an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and shared the reason for his departure from NASCAR. The 34-year-old said that "it felt right," having been a racing driver for a long while. He added he had been considering this decision for a couple of months.

Kligerman said,

"I think couple months ago, it sort of hit me, and it was a feeling that sort of started small as a thought, and it kept growing and growing, and before you know it, you can't ignore it, and, you know, it's a lot of discussion and internal and external" (0:23).

The 34-year-old added he had spoken to Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Racing, who was supportive of his decision.

He also shed further light on what went on before his big decision, saying

"I think when you start something like this, you never think about this part, because it seems so far away that will never happen to you, and then suddenly it just sort of does, and I spoke to some other people who've been able to make that decision, and I asked them, 'How do you know' and that sort of thing, and they said 'you don't really know, but you know,' and that's how I felt."

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Jeb Burton encouraged Parker Kligerman to continue racing

Jeb Burton, driver of car number 20 for Jordan Anderson Racing, shared he met Parker Kligerman last week and got to know about his decision.

Sharing his thoughts in a post on X(formerly Twitter), Burton said he told Kligerman to "keep digging" and called him a "good dude and wheelman."

Burton wrote,

This sport isn’t fair and hard. It takes talent, money and resources. I told @pkligerman last week keep digging as I got wind of this. He’s a good dude and a wheelman. He will land on his feet on his next journey.

Kligerman is in ninth place in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings, bagging 674 points. The #48 driver has four top-5 and eleven top-10 finishes this year.

Meanwhile, in the Focused Health 250 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway track on September 7, Kligerman clinched second place, for a season-best finish. The 34-year-old driver had qualified for the race in 16th place.

In the first stage of the race, the Big Machine Driver lost his qualifying position and ended it 17th. However, in stage 2, things started to change, and Kligerman moved up four places, ending the stage in 13th place. In the final stage, Kligerman finished the race in second place, keeping him in the playoffs.