NASCAR Full-Time vs Part-Time: How Drivers Approach It Differently Ft. Parker Kligerman

Parker Kligerman is a driver who lived on the fringes of NASCAR for over a decade. He served many part-time stints with multiple teams in the Xfinity and Truck Series before grabbing a full-time ride with Big Machine Racing (BMR) in 2023. Perhaps the best driver to talk about the differences between part-time and full-time racing, he explained it in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck.

“It’s massively different,” he said. “There are mental aspects to knowing there’s a season-long trophy you’re playing for, and that you are a figurehead of this organization trying to accomplish that. Whereas in a part-time capacity, especially for me, my main income at the time was television.” He noted that flipping the two translated to results becoming much more impactful and crucial.

In 2023, he drove full-time in Xfinity for BMR and part-time in Truck for Henderson Motorsports. Bringing the experience forward, he spoke about how realizing and accepting the differences made it easier for him to bring in better results. He likened the dynamics to a job change in which everything is different despite the role being the same.

“Every tool they use, every communication product they use. That’s us. If you move up the grid, or if you go from part-time to full-time, it’s that level of adjustment,” he concluded. Kligerman is currently in his second full-time season with BMR, and proving to the racing world that it’d made a mistake by ignoring him for far too long.

Parker Kligerman’s resilience and will that helped him get back to the pinnacle of racing

The 33-year-old driver has been in the NASCAR scene since 2009. When he started his career, he was a highly expected prospect in the Team Penske garage. After a few starts for Penske and Chip Ganassi in the second tier, he was moved down to Trucks. Once there, he drove for Brad Keselowski Racing and Red Horse Racing between 2011 and 2012.

In 2013, he managed a full-time ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in Xfinity. That was the final time in a while he would get to race throughout the season. He was dropped at the end of the year despite a promising outing and spent the next several years alternating part-time duties between the second and third NASCAR tiers. Apart from being a driver, he also served as a TV analyst.

Since earning back his full-time position in 2023, he has made it a case to give it his all all every race week. He made it into the playoffs last year with 18 top-10 finishes and kicked off 2024 with the same momentum. Though winless, he has secured three top-10 results so far.