Connor Zilisch’s dad reacts with just two words to Parker Kligerman’s Daytona spotlight

Connor Zilisch's father, Jim Zilisch, shared his reaction to Parker Kligerman's Daytona efforts being recognized by a NASCAR racing database. While Kligerman's name isn't listed as the official race winner, he's credited as Zilisch's relief driver.

Kligerman saw history repeat itself when he won the Wawa 250. The Westport native previously won the Truck Series opener at Daytona, but was stripped of the result due to a post-race infraction.

He knew the same was bound to happen if he won last Friday's Xfinity Series race. Kligerman subbed in for Zilisch 13 laps into the race and won with a narrow margin of 0.200 seconds, which maintained Zilisch's streak of 12 consecutive top-5s.

Following the same, Racing-Reference.info released their stats with a special mention for Kligerman under race notes. They shared the inclusion on X and wrote,

"Don't worry @pkligerman - we gave you recognition where it's due 👏"

The retired driver responded with a note of gratitude.

"Hahaha, thank you," Parker Kilgerman wrote.

Zilisch's father took notice of the interaction and dropped his appreciation under the comments.

"Well deserved!," he said.

Connor Zilisch's dad acknowles Parker Kligerman's feat on X. Source: @X/pkilgerman

On his part, Kligerman remained optimistic of his twin Daytona victories.

"In my mind, oh two, I got two. The first one still counts in my mind and we don’t have to get no sour grapes, but this is a happy moment."

The 35-year-old currently serves as a colour commentator for CW, as well as a pit reporter for NBC.

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NASCAR insider argues for rule change to record Parker Kligerman's Daytona win

On the recent episode of The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck argued that NASCAR could do away with old regulations that discredit Parker Kligerman's Daytona triumph. He explained that such instances don't happen very often and referenced the last occurence with Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin in 2007.

"I get that NASCAR's always had relief drivers. I get that the driver of record is the driver in the record book. And that was partly because, if I'm not mistaken, back in the day when relief drivers were so common, guys were getting in and out, in and out... but it's changed today... It's modern-day NASCAR now. It's the modern era. Could NASCAR not just go and say the winner of this race was Connor Zilisch slash Parker Kligerman and in the record book, it has both their names?," Gluck said. [46:51 onwards]

NASCAR fans, however, weren't onboard with the idea, with many calling it 'silly' and 'terrible'. Some even argued that such a contrivance could lead to teams switching drivers between cars if one of them wrecks out.

In line with Gluck's comments, the last time a NASCAR driver had two wins that didn't count was during the 1956-57 season, when Jim Reed won a Cup race and a short track race before getting disqualified.