CONCORD, N.C. – Sam Mayer won at the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday in a controversial overtime finish that sent Mayer into the Xfinity Series playoffs.

This came at the expense of Parker Kligerman, who was not only denied his first career Xfinity Series victory in the regular season by a NASCAR scoring call, but also eliminated from the playoff field.

Kligerman was in the lead and heading toward the white flag that would have marked the final lap of the race when Leland Honeyman hit the flat tire. NASCAR could have issued an immediate warning—that was how deep Honeyman was in the tire barrier—but the yellow inexplicably didn't flash until a split second before Kligerman was about to pass under the white flag, which would have made the race official.

Kligerman's team celebrated on pit road when NASCAR ruled that the driver had not taken the white flag and the race would go into overtime. It was the Xfinity Series' record-breaking 14th overtime race this season.

Mayer, who won this race a year ago, caught Kligerman in a two-lap sprint to the finish, won the race and advanced to the playoffs. The two made contact on Mayer's winning pass, causing so much damage that Kligerman, who is in his final full-time NASCAR racing season, dropped to sixth place.

“I want to cry,” Kligerman said, “but I won’t cry. I really love this and I really, really wanted this. It would have meant the world.”

Kligerman, who works as a television analyst for the Cup races, was in disbelief when he was shown the replay of how close he had been to winning the race before the late caution.

“What!” he said incredulously. “I’ve seen enough of the television side to know how heartbreaking and disheartened people are about something like this.”

AJ Allmendinger, who had gone a perfect 4-4 in the Xfinity Series on The Roval, finished second, followed by polesitter Shane van Gisbergen, who was eliminated from the playoffs despite a third-place finish. Allmendinger and Van Gisbergen will both take part in the Cup Series race on Sunday, with Van Gisbergen on pole.

He was beaten by Jesse Love, who finished 19th but overtook enough cars in the final two laps to edge out Van Gisbergen by two points. Kligerman, Van Gisbergen, Sheldon Creed and Riley Herbst were eliminated.

Creed and Herbst have had previous accidents and left the garage to observe their fate.

Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were the only two drivers already confirmed for the Round of 8, leaving only six playoff spots open at Charlotte's hybrid road/oval course.

Justin Allgaier, who was below the cutline at the start of the race, finished seventh and advanced. With the reset points, Allgaier is now the championship leader ahead of the opening race of the next round next Saturday in Las Vegas.

The top seven finishers Saturday in Charlotte were playoff drivers.